


The Next Best Thing

by Caedmon



Series: New History [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Pete's World, Pete's World Torchwood, Post Regeneration, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-06-06 09:59:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 65,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6749113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caedmon/pseuds/Caedmon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He pleads with the Vortex as he regenerates; <i>Rose… Please, make me into what Rose needs… Let me take care of her, keep her safe… Please, just let me be what Rose needs… </i> </p><p>The TARDIS knows that soon, Rose will be lost to Pete's World, alone and afraid.</p><p>This is the story of how She solved both of their problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Regeneration

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and welcome to my new multichap! This fic has been in the works for almost a year, and I'm _so excited_ to finally be posting it! 
> 
> A handful of notes before we get started:  
> ~I own some cool things, but Doctor Who is not one of them. If it was, a few things would have happened very differently.  
> ~The first and second chapters are both going up on the first day. After that, I'll be posting a chapter per week on Wednesdays.  
> ~This fic will _not_ be as long as Kintsugi; I expect this one to top out around 15 chapters.  
>  ~Rating will go up in later chapters.  
> ~This fic is beta'd by the incomparable tenroseforeverandever, who is by and large just the most incredible beta there has ever been in the history of all of Time and space. The first few chapters were also beta'd by jessi_girl9, who gave me early encouragement for this wild idea I had and helped me clean up a multitude of mistakes. goingtothetardis has been a tremendous sounding board for me on this fic, putting up with endless whining about it for _months_ and I owe her a huge debt of thanks. _**THANK YOU**_ to all three of you ladies!!  
>  ~comments and kudos are the life's blood of the muse, and are so very greatly appreciated!  
> ~come talk to me! caedmonfaith.tumblr.com

Everything was fire and he was dying. Everything was burning. He was all but gone. 

All of his body’s cells had ignited in an attempt to save his life, to keep his consciousness - his precious Time Lord consciousness - safe. 

_It’s a dodgy process, regeneration,_ he’d told her, and that was certainly true. He had no idea what his tenth body would be like, what he’d look like, what his preferences and personality would be. It was a crapshoot, a lottery. He had virtually no control over the outcome of his regenerations. 

For nine bodies, this had been the case - and it had been fine. He’d worked with whatever the fires of regeneration saw fit to give him. Celery on the lapel? Sure. Romantic poet? Okay. Cricket player? Fluffy-haired bloke with long scarves and jelly babies? Grumpy, leather-wearing old soldier? Why not. Whoever stood there when the flames of regeneration receded was who he was. He was the Doctor, win, lose, or draw, in whatever body he ended up in. He made the best of what he had each time. 

But making do wasn’t good enough this time. _This_ time, he had more than himself to think about. 

There was Rose. 

Rose was with him, and he desperately wanted to keep her that way. He _needed_ her beside him, her hand in his, holding him steady. 

A lottery was unacceptable, and the knowledge that he may not be what she needed anymore was even more torturous than the flames that lapped at every cell of his body. The pain was immense, but he only had one thought: 

_Rose… Please, make me into what Rose needs… Let me take care of her… Please, just let me be what Rose needs…_

Then the flames consumed him and he knew no more.


	2. Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One year later...

Mickey came into the empty, ruined room and found Rose exactly where he’d left her when he’d shooed everyone out hours earlier. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring at the wall. 

Silent. Waiting. 

“Babe?” he intoned in a quiet voice.

“Mmm.” She barely acknowledged him, her eyes locked on the wall in front of her.

He hesitated a moment. “It’s been five and a half hours.”

Rose nodded but said nothing, still not looking away from the plain, white wall - the blank space she’d fallen through.

“I don’t think he’s coming this time, babe.” Mickey’s voice was gentle.

“The Doctor’d never leave me,” she said with conviction. “Never. He’ll figure out a way to get me back.”

Mickey didn’t say anything to that. He just walked to her, quietly, and knelt, taking her hand. “If he doesn’t-”

“He will,” Rose insisted.

“If he doesn’t,” Mickey began again, his voice still soft and patient, “you have your family. You have me. We’re all here with you. S’not so bad, being stuck with us, is it?”

Rose jerked her head at him, tearing her gaze away from the wall for the first time, staring at him with wide, red-rimmed eyes as if she’d remembered something. She jumped to her feet and plunged her hand into her pocket, pulling out her mobile. Pressing a couple of buttons, she held the phone to her ear, looking around the room a little wildly. Mickey heard the phone warbling its little error message from where he stood, and her face crumpled. She brought both fists to her eyes and collapsed to the ground, curling her legs beneath her, weeping.

Mickey sat down beside her, facing the wall, and put his arm around her. She fell over onto him, sobbing. “He's gone, Mickey, he's gone. I’ve left him, and I swore I never would. What’s he gonna do now, Mickey? Who’s going to take care of him? Who’s gonna hold his hand? What’m _I_ gonna do without him?”

Rose threw her arms around Mickey and clung to his neck as if she were clinging for her life, the way she’d clung to the lever on the other side of the wall only hours ago. 

He shushed her as best he could, rocking her soothingly. 

“What if he can’t come back, Mickey? How will I get on then?” she sobbed.

“You’ll manage, Rose. You’re scrappy and I’ve never seen you give up on anything. You always survive, and come out better. You’re still here, yeah?” Rose cried harder and he chastised himself for his mistaken choice of words. “You’re still alive, Rose.”

“I don’t think I want to be, if I can’t be with him.” 

He held her close and spoke into her hair. “Shhh… Don't say that, babe. I’ve got you. We’ve all got you. Shhh. We’re not going to leave you to be miserable. You may not have him, but you have all of us. We all love you.”

“No,” she said suddenly, pushing away from him forcefully. Mickey dove after, holding his arms out, as if to catch her. “No, I can’t think like that. He’s coming back for me. The Doctor would never leave me alone. _Never_. I just have to wait for him, s’all.”

Mickey’s heart sank at the determined set of her jaw. He’d known Rose Tyler his whole life, and that particular look never boded well for anyone or anything that came up against her. “Rose, listen to me,” he coaxed. “Even if he’s working out how to get here, it might take a while, yeah? He might not even come out right here, in this room. Could be anything, anywhere, anytime. Couple months from now, even. You know how he drives.”

Rose’s jaw protruded slightly, and he knew he’d hit a mark. “Tell you what,” he said, “me an’ you, we’ll sit here another thirty minutes and wait. If he doesn’t come by then, we’ll go meet your da- Pete, and we’ll eat and shower and wait for him in this world. Alright?”

She stared at the wall but nodded stiffly. Mickey put his arm around her and she leaned into his shoulder. 

“I’ll stay with you, Rose. I’ll be here. You’ve still got me.”

Rose Tyler had been lost to him from the moment Henrik’s had exploded, and he’d not try to steal her heart back. It would be pointless, no matter how much he loved her. And oh, how he loved her. 

But he could be her friend. The Doctor had been her rock, and now he would fill that role. Mickey Smith would be her rock now until the Doctor came for her. He wouldn’t - couldn’t - leave her to face this alone. And then when the Doctor came back for her he’d step aside, just as he always did.

~*~O~*~

Jackie stepped into the opulence of Pete’s home, her eyes wide and disbelieving. The foyer was large, with a grand staircase laid out before her. Paintings decorated the walls and she stood on a parquet floor. Elegant vases full of flowers sat on various surfaces, and Jackie had the wild idea to go smell them to see if they were real. In a home as posh as this, she was sure they were. She’d never been in a home as nice as this one, and it was _her_ home now. Pete had said so. 

She squeezed Rose’s hand. Rose didn’t return the gesture. 

Jackie heard the door close behind them and turned around to look at Pete and Mickey. 

“Here you are,” Pete said, approaching them, hesitant. “Home sweet home.”

“It’s lovely, Pete,” Jackie breathed, looking around the room again, up at the ceiling. _Crown molding_ , she noted. 

“Thank you,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets. “I hope you’ll be happy here.”

“I’m sure we will. Won’t we, Rose?”

She looked over at her daughter, who didn’t appear to be taking in the sights quite the way Jackie had. Rose stared, mute, at the open door to another room. Jackie tugged on her hand gently. “S’a lovely home, isn’t it, Rose?”

“I’ve been here before,” Rose mumbled. 

“You have?”

Pete cleared his throat. “Yes, she has. She and the...the Doctor came here a couple of years ago. We were having a party that night. Jac-... m’wife-...” he stumbled over the explanation and finally seemed to give up, taking a different approach. “It was a birthday party.”

Rose nodded, acknowledging him, and Jackie just looked back and forth between the two. Seems she had some catching up to do. 

“Well, I’m sure it was a lovely party,” she said, for lack of anything better to say. Rose nodded again, shifting her eyes towards the ground. Jackie’s worry spiked. “Think I could get a cuppa?” she asked Pete. “I could murder a cuppa, eh, Rose?”

“I think I want to lie down.”

Jackie stared at Rose for a minute, her protective instinct raging within her. She didn’t want to let her daughter out of her sight. 

“Mickey can show you, can’t you, Mickey?” Pete said, gesturing. “I’m sure we could all use a little down time after today.”

“Sure,” Mickey volunteered, stepping up to Rose’s other side. Jackie looked at him with wide eyes and he nodded at her before he slipped his arm around Rose’s shoulders. “C’mon babe, let me take you to your room.”

Rose released Jackie’s hand and Jackie automatically crossed her arms over her chest protectively, feeling less secure without her daughter right by her side. “Sure you won’t have a cuppa, Rose?”

“No, Mum. I’m just tired.”

Jackie nodded and watched as Mickey led her towards the grand staircase in the center of the foyer. Rose started up the steps just behind Mickey and Jackie gave in to the impulse to call out to her, about halfway up.

“I’ll come check on you in a bit, yeah?”

Rose nodded, still climbing up the stairs. 

“I love you, Rose,” she said, hoping the assurance would help. 

Rose nodded and turned her head just a little. “Love you, too, Mum.”

Jackie felt Pete’s arm about her shoulders but didn’t acknowledge him. Her mind was crowded with thoughts of Rose. 

“Think she’ll be alright?” he asked. 

She just stared at the entrance to the hallway Rose had just gone down with Mickey. 

“I hope so.”

~*~O~*~

“Rose?”

“Go away, Mum.”

“Rose, you know I’m not going to leave. Let me in.”

Rose stared at the clock for a minute longer, not answering her mother. The two dots between the eleven and the thirty-eight flashed several more times before the thirty-eight changed to a thirty-nine. Rose didn’t stir.

“Rose?”

She sighed then called out, “S’not locked.”

The handle clicked on the door somewhere behind Rose and she heard the door close a second later. She was glad for the privacy; she wasn’t prepared for her mother, much less anyone else. 

The sound of Jackie’s footsteps came closer and closer until Rose saw her mum from the bottom of her vision, rounding the foot of the bed. Jackie sat, brushing a stray lock of hair back from Rose’s face and laying her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. 

Her mother just watched her for a minute, saying nothing, stroking her hair. Rose didn’t look at her, focusing on fighting back the tears that were encroaching while she watched the clock. Thirty-nine became forty. Forty became forty-one. Forty-one became forty-two. She still didn’t stir. She barely blinked.

“It would tear him apart to see you like this, Rose.” Jackie’s voice was quiet. “It would shatter both his hearts.”

Rose didn’t answer.

“He would hate that you’re spending your life this way. Knowing that you’ve shut yourself into this room for the last two weeks...he’d be so upset, Rose.”

She knew her mother was right. The Doctor had had one weakness - her tears. For that reason she’d tried never to cry around him. She never wanted him to see how upset she was at any given moment, and had, over time, found other ways to deal with her upset. Crying had become something that only happened if she was seriously injured or wounded. The Doctor would move heaven and earth for her when tears fell onto her cheeks, and she tried not to take advantage of that.

Rose had cried herself dry in the fifteen days since she’d fallen through the void. She’d cried, she’d raged, she’d pleaded with every deity she’d come across in the two years she’d spent with him, and finally she’d just shut down and retired to her bed when she realized none of it was working. She’d barely slept and had eaten only when she felt faint. She left her bed only to relieve herself. 

Jackie had been up several times a day to check on her, bringing her food or water, spending one visit per day pleading with her daughter to rejoin the world. And she hadn’t been the only one to try to pull Rose out of her miserable trance. Mickey had been up a few times, and even Pete (her dad?) had tried to rouse her. 

This wasn’t normal, and Rose knew it. She was a fighter, someone who didn’t give up. But the Doctor had been so serious when he’d told her that he was closing off the realities forever...that it was permanent...it made her want to give up. Losing her grip on that lever had ruined her life, and while she was grateful to Pete for saving her from the actual void, she felt as if her soul had been sucked into a void of it’s own. She was numb. She felt dead inside. ‘Normal’, for everyone else, didn’t include the Doctor. Her ‘normal’ did, and she wasn’t ready to find a new sense of normal without him. She’d never be ready. She needed him. And in the meantime she didn’t want anything else.

Rose understood that eventually she’d break out of this reverie but she really didn’t want to just yet. She wasn’t ready to stop grieving. 

As if she’d heard Rose’s thought process Jackie said, “Nobody expects you to be happy, sweetheart. Not right now. You’re heartbroken and that’s okay. Even the Doctor would understand that you’re grieving.” Her voice grew harder, a little angry. “But you can’t stop living, can’t stop performing basic human functions. This isn’t like you, Rose! You nearly killed yourself to try to get back to him once before. Why aren’t you standing up and trying to fight your way back to him now?”

She stared at her mother with the all-too-familiar prickle of fresh tears. “He said -”

“I don’t _care_ what he said, Rose. Let me tell you what he would say if he were here, if he could see you now, shall I? He’d give me the rough side of his tongue for sure for letting you do this to yourself. He’d be ashamed that you’ve just given up on life. That’s not like you at all. I’ll wager he wouldn’t even recognize you like this. I barely do, and you’re m’daughter!”

Rose opened her mouth to defend herself but Jackie cut her off. “He would be furious that you’re not taking care of yourself and you know it, Rose. He’d be livid that you’ve shut yourself away like this and aren’t eating. Or showering, or talking to anyone.” Jackie’s voice took on a sterner edge. “Did it ever occur to you that Pete found a way over there the first time, and he could again? Why aren’t you talking to _him_ about this?” 

“Have _you_? Talked to Pete?”

“I’ve talked to Pete about lots of things, but not about sending you away from me. Don’t particularly want to, but I can’t stand to see you like this, either. I’m not sorry you’re here with me, but I’m terribly sorry the Doctor isn’t with you. You need him, it’s clear as day. You need him and he needs you.” she huffed. “All he ever wanted was to keep you safe and healthy and happy, for all that he put you in all kinds of ridiculous danger. And when he finally _does_ come, he won’t be pleased to find you’ve wasted away to nothing in the hospital or died from grief.”

Rose sat up, her eyes flashing and brimming with tears. “What would you have me do, Mum? Be Susie Sunshine? Because I can’t. I _can’t_. I don’t feel like it. He’s gone, and there’s nothing happy in me anymore.”

“You think you’re the only one who’s ever lost the man you love, Rose Tyler?” Jackie said hotly. “I lived without your dad for twenty years! But I had to keep goin’, didn’t I? And you know what? I did it! I didn’t lay down and die, as much as I wanted to! I had to keep livin’, for you, and I did!”

Rose gaped at her. “Mum...I’m-”

“You’re what? You’re sorry? Bloody hell, Rose, I know you’re sorry. You’ve been nothing but miserable since we landed here. And I understand that, I _do._ But if you have so much faith that the Doctor will come and find you, why aren’t you acting like it?”

Rose’s mouth hung open, words refusing to come. Then white-hot anger roiled within her, directed at her mother. “Don’t doubt my faith in him!”

“Don’t make me doubt it!” Jackie fired back. “You’re acting like a woman who has lost everything, and you _haven’t_ , Rose. You _haven’t_. You say he’s going to come for you, yet you lie in this bed and mope as if you’ll never see anything good in your life again! So which is it? Hmm? Is he dead and gone forever or is he coming for you? Because if he walked through that door right now I’m thinking he’d probably have some words for you when he saw you lying in a heap on that bed.”

Jackie went on. “Keepin’ goin’ was the best thing for me,” she said with simplicity. “You gave me a reason to live and if I had to, I’d do it again. You don’t _have_ to be Susie Sunshine, Rose,” she said, putting her hand out to touch Rose’s shoulder. “We all know that’s unreasonable. Nobody expects you to be cheerful and act like nothing’s happened. But you said that the Doctor showed you a better way of living your life, yeah? Seems like a poor repayment, lying in bed and ignoring all the people here who love you.”

Rose just stared at her mother. She’d not expected her mum to be right. About everything.

“Dinner’s at seven,” Jackie said sharply, standing to go. “Nobody in this house is allowed to bring food to your room anymore.” She pointed down at her daughter. “You think about what I said, Rose Marion Tyler. If that TARDIS landed in the garden right now, what would he say? What would he think if he could see you like this? Pale, thin, unshowered, same clothes for days and days...what’d the Doctor say if he knew you’d done this to yourself? You're not honoring him by refusing to take care of the person he cares about.”

Jackie turned and left the room, leaving a pensive Rose still sitting on the bed, tears coursing down her cheeks, a new resolve solidifying.

~*~O~*~

Pete and Jackie had just sat down at the table to dinner in the informal dining room of Pete’s mansion. 

“She’s not coming?” Pete asked, spreading a napkin across his lap.

“I hope she does. You’re going to love her, Pete. She’s wonderful.”

“I’m certain I will. Shall we wait?”

Jackie checked her watch and sighed. “It’s five after. I suppose we could go ahead and start. Maybe she’ll come in late.” She sighed again as Pete passed her a platter. “I’m really looking forward to the two of you spending time together. She’s so much like -”

Pete cleared his throat and Jackie followed the nod of his head.

Rose stood in the doorway, freshly showered, wearing clean, new clothes and the barest hint of makeup. She was otherwise unadorned, save for her silver hoops and the TARDIS key she had on the gold chain. 

“Sorry I’m late,” she mumbled. “I couldn’t find you guys. This house is so big.”

Jackie jumped and ran to her, hugging her tight. Both women’s cheeks were wet when they pulled back and Jackie put a reassuring hand on Rose’s cheek. “You’re right on time, sweetheart. I was just telling Pete how much alike you are. You two will enjoy getting to know each other, I’m sure…”


	3. Brave New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose begins to accept her new life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was broken into half because it got really long and there was an organic place to split it. The other half should be coming soon. :)

Rose didn’t go back to her room once she emerged other than to sleep at night. She’d had enough of wallowing and that room and its four walls did nothing but remind her of the misery she still felt. She was ready to move on, to be an active participant in her life - even if every breath still hurt, she was determined to take them. Her mum was right: it’s what the Doctor would have wanted.

So she went down to eat dinner with her mum and Pete, and then she stayed around afterwards to talk to them. The conversation was light, all of them deftly managing to avoid addressing the elephant in the room. Rose took advantage of the time to get to know Pete a bit better, since she hadn’t had a chance before. 

Jackie had been right: Rose and Pete did share a lot in common. She was enjoying getting to know him and while she felt like a bit of a traitor to her _actual_ father, she found herself believing that she could grow to love this version of her father. It was nice to feel a little hopeful. Lying in that room, she’d honestly questioned whether she ever would again. 

But despite her growing trust in him Rose hadn’t been especially pleased when he tentatively broached the subject of her coming with him to his place of work - Torchwood. She’d felt angry, defensive, and fresh waves of grief had washed over her. The place didn’t exactly hold the happiest of memories for her, and she couldn’t easily forget that her own universe’s Torchwood had been the driving force behind her being trapped here, away from the Doctor. 

Yet she couldn’t sit idle any longer.

Pete had told her that compared to it’s counterpart in Rose’s universe, this world’s Torchwood had much more to offer and wasn’t nearly as corrupt. Their only agenda was to make Earth a safe, happy place - with or without alien life forms. He assured her that she would be an asset, with her two years of unofficial ‘in the field’ training and eventually, after a week or so, he convinced her to come with him to work. Ostensibly she was going to set up a new identity, but he made it clear that he wasn’t going to refrain from trying to recruit her. With Mickey’s encouragement and his promise that he would stay with her, she agreed to go.

Mickey was by her side as they approached the building that housed Torchwood, the same building that she’d landed in just under three weeks ago, also located at Canary Wharf. Rose shuddered against the memory of the cybermen and daleks, still so fresh, and Mickey held her hand tighter. She looked up at him and he nodded down at her, a silent reassurance that he would stay with her. 

Pete put his hand on her shoulder and seemed to read her thoughts. “Mickey can stay with you as long as you want him to, Rose, and I promise that nobody in here is going to hurt you. There will be questions about you being my daughter, but that’s what we’re here to settle. I’ll be here, Mickey will be here, and you won’t be alone.”

Rose looked up at the building squared her shoulders. “Alright. Let’s do it.”

~*~O~*~

Both true to their words, Mickey and Pete stayed right with Rose. Mickey even stood outside the door of the loo to assure Rose privacy, determined in his resolve that she not be harassed. Rose was impressed with him in spite of herself. Mickey seemed comfortable in his surroundings and seemed to have the respect of almost everyone they met. Rose felt safe with him nearby. 

“Smith!” a voice called from behind them after Rose came out of the bathroom and they started back towards their destination. They both turned around. 

A young man approached them, tall with strawberry blonde hair, wearing khakis and an oxford without a tie. He looked friendly, but Rose took a tiny, little step closer to Mickey, anyway. 

“Adams!” Mickey greeted the man with a smile. 

“You’ve been holding out a secret girlfriend, Smith?”

Mickey snorted. “Nah, this is Rose. She’s been my best mate all my life. Rose, meet Kevin Adams; he’s a field agent like me. We work together sometimes.”

“Best mates with a girl...didn’t expect that from you, Smith. Even a girl as lovely as this one.” He turned his smile towards Rose and it brightened. “ _Especially_ a girl as lovely as this one.” 

Rose felt something within her cringe and took another involuntary step closer to Mickey before she offered her hand and a polite smile. “Hi, I’m Rose. Rose Tyler.”

“Tyler?” Kevin asked with raised eyebrows. “Any relation to the director?”

Rose looked at Mickey, who gave her a subtle nod. “Yes, he’s...he’s my dad.”

Kevin’s eyes widened. “Your dad?”

“It’s a long story,” Rose offered lamely.

“A confidential one,” Mickey chimed in, a note of warning in his voice. “For now. We’re working on the logistics of revealing that information.”

Kevin looked at both of them and nodded. “Gotcha. Well, that’s not half intriguing, is it?” He laughed a little, then gave Rose the full attention of his green eyes. “Can I just say that I never expected Pete to have a daughter, much less such a stunningly pretty daughter?” He winked at Rose, and she flushed against her will - mostly at the thought of what the Doctor would have done in such a situation. She knew he would have stiffened and then made some display of dominance over the other man, putting this Kevin Adams bloke and his glib comments in their place.

Loss hit her like a blow to the chest. The Doctor wasn’t here, she reminded herself. He wouldn’t be able to assert himself over this ginger fellow (whose hair would have irked him, too). She drew a shuddering breath, trying to fight back the tears.

“Down boy,” Mickey said, sounding almost bored. 

Kevin held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Alright, Smith, take it easy. Just paying compliments to the lady.”

“They’re appreciated,” Rose assured him, lying politely so as not to make trouble for Mickey or Pete. “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Adams.”

“Kevin,” he corrected. “I’m hoping that your BFF Smith here will allow us to at least be friends. He seems rather protective - as well he should be.”

 _You don’t know the half of it,_ she thought. 

“Did you need something, Adams?” Mickey asked, more than a bit rude.

“Only wanted to say hello; haven’t seen you since you were on the hopper assignment. Did you locate the mark?”

“You’re looking at her,” Mickey answered. 

Kevin looked confused. “I thought the mark was the Doctor?”

Rose felt her knees shudder beneath her and she grabbed Mickey’s arm for support. She still wasn’t prepared for sneak-attack mentions of him. He covered her hand with his own. 

“We found the Doctor,” Mickey said shortly. “Rose came back with us.”

“Well his loss is our gain, eh?” Kevin said with a smile at Rose.

It was the entirely wrong thing to say. Rose thought of what the Doctor must be feeling with her gone, of how protective he had always been and careful to keep her safe. He must feel utterly wretched without her and was almost certainly reeling from the loss, the same way she was. The tears threatened again, and they were more insistent this time. She gripped Mickey’s arm without thinking, trying to fight back the urge to cry.

“Losing Rose would be a loss to anyone,” Mickey said in a steady voice, giving Rose’s hand a squeeze. 

“I may not be here long,” Rose volunteered in an effort to combat the tears, feeling a moment of bravery.

Kevin looked back at her. “Well I certainly hope we don’t feel your loss anytime soon,” he said, smooth.

_Oh, the Doctor would have had something to say about that_ , she thought. 

“We need to get going,” Mickey said, “need to get Rose to Documents.”

“Yes, I won’t keep you any longer,” Kevin said, then turned to give Rose a little bow. “Ms. Tyler, I certainly hope I’ll be seeing more of you.”

Rose acknowledged him somehow without noting what she said and Kevin walked away. Mickey put his arm around her.

“You did great, babe.”

“I’m not interested in that guy,” she said, right off the bat. “Is he always like that?”

“Nah,” Mickey said. “Bit of a show-off, but all us field operatives are a bit full of ourselves. Have to be, really, in our line of work. It takes a bit of bravado.” He dropped his arm once Kevin disappeared around the corner and Rose’s shoulders drooped. “He’s a really nice guy, Rose. Don’t put any stock in it. He just met a pretty girl and made a bit of an arse of himself. He’s not a prick or anything.”

Rose bit her thumb and tried to believe him. “Yeah.”

“Just forget about it and try to pretend that your next meeting is your first. He’ll likely be an entirely different bloke when he’s not flustered by meeting the Director’s beautiful daughter.”

Rose didn’t acknowledge Mickey’s compliment. “He didn’t seem flustered,” she pointed out. “Just cocky. And...interested.”

Mickey was looking at her with pride. “You’re doing great, Rose. Everyone is going to love you. Might as well get used to that now.”

“Yeah,” she said with little conviction. 

“It’s a brave new world but you’re the bravest girl I’ve ever known,” he encouraged her. 

_A brave new world._ She stifled a laugh. That it is. Too bad she didn’t feel all that brave just then. 

~*~O~*~

Rose sat in Pete’s office, thumbing through her new documentation. It appeared that this universe ran a couple of years ahead of her old universe - in Pete’s world it was 2010 instead of 2007 - so on the documents in front of her, her age had been adjusted to twenty-four. For all Rose knew, after traveling with the Doctor for so long that could really _be_ her actual age. She had no way of knowing, but guessed it didn’t really matter. Pete seemed to have gone out of his way to keep her life as much the same as possible - a difficult task, she knew. 

He sat across the desk from her now, watching her as she rifled through the pages that gave her an identity in his world. He’d said very little about her coming to work for him, but she knew it would come. She was waiting. 

“Everything look alright?” he asked.

Rose nodded, still studying her license. It listed her residence as Pete’s home. It was official she supposed: Rose Tyler lived in a mansion. She wasn’t sure what she thought about that. It was a childhood dream come true but now all she wanted was the Doctor and his little blue box. Her real home.

“Looks good.”

“Good,” Pete said, sounding relieved. “I’m glad.”

She lay the papers on her lap. “Have we come to the part where you try to talk me into working for you?”

Pete gave her a wry grin. “You’re quite clever. But yeah… I really _do_ think you’d make a valuable asset, Rose.”

She considered him then asked, “Where would you want me to work? What department?”

“Well,” he said, leaning forward and putting his elbows on the desk. “I think you could go anywhere you wanted and make a huge impact. Whatever department interests you most, you can go there. But personally, ideally, I think you’d make a brilliant field agent.”

“What do the field agents do?”

“They are our out-of-office contacts, the front line in our contact with the paranormal. It’s a lot of diplomacy, since most of the aliens who land here are peaceable.”

“Most?”

“Well, we have the occasional Lumic to deal with,” he acknowledged. “But you and the Doctor were on the front lines for that. You’re very quick on your feet, Rose. Lots of poise under pressure. That’s an invaluable trait for a field agent.”

Rose thought back to all of her adventures with the Doctor. Yes, she did have a certain amount of grace under fire. She’d had to, traveling with him. 

“But all field agents are trained in self-defense and combat,” Pete went on. “You would be, too. And you’d carry a firearm.”

“The Doctor -” she stopped herself. She’d started to say that the Doctor would never approve, which was true, but the Doctor wasn’t here. She wouldn’t be able to count on his knowledge and skills here, in this world, when she was in danger. She’d have to adapt on her own. A weapon may be a necessary evil.

 _Oh, Doctor, what would you have me do?_ She blinked back the tears.

“The Doctor wouldn’t want you facing a potential alien threat without some way to protect yourself,” Mickey assured her, sensing her hesitance. “You know that.”

Rose just nodded, looking back down at the papers in her lap. He was right.

“Alright then,” she said, swallowing hard to gather herself. “Would I be working under you?” she asked Pete.

“Not directly,” Pete answered. “The director of the field operatives is a bloke named Barton.”

“He’s a nice guy,” Mickey said. “Easy-going. You’ll like him.”

“Each team has a pair of co-leaders. I would put you on Smith and Simmond’s team.”

“Jake?” Rose asked, glancing over at Mickey. He nodded.

Pete went on. “They would decide when you were ready to go out onto ops. Until then you’d just be training. But I suspect you won’t take long to train.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve seen you in action,” Pete said simply. “And so have Mickey and Simmonds. They both have good instincts, they’ll know what to do with you.”

Rose thought for a moment. “I want my focus to be on getting back to the Doctor.”

“I’m not sure we can breach the universes again, Rose,” Pete said carefully. “Doing so was putting an incredible strain on our environment as it was. If we tried to breach once the walls were fully closed, it could be catastrophic.”

“I understand that, and I don’t want to put this world in danger. But I belong with him,” she said in a simple, firm tone. “If I agree to be a field agent, I’ll want to be working with the team that’s working on that as well. There has to at least be a team exploring the options, right?” 

Pete regarded her carefully for a moment, then nodded. “There is. And that seems fair enough.”

Rose sat quietly for a minute, considering. 

She couldn’t be idle. She’d been idle nearly the entire three weeks since she crossed the void, and it had afforded her nothing. It was clear that if she were going to get back to the Doctor, she was going to have to be proactive. If she went on a mission on her own to find him, there was no telling what she may run into. The training as a field operative for Torchwood could only be beneficial.

“So when do I start?”


	4. Making Strides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose takes steps towards a new life while she waits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, this is beta'd by tenroseforeverandever, but all the mistakes are mine. <3  
> Thank you for reading!

Rose started the next day, riding into Torchwood with Pete in the morning and coming home with him when the day was done.

The first couple of days were just an orientation, a boring set of classes meant to teach her about Torchwood and its goals. At the end of the third day her instructor told her to be ready to start physical training when she next came to work. Rose nodded and tried not to show her excitement.

The next week, full of physical training, was brutal - particularly since Rose hadn’t been taking care of herself for the previous few weeks. But she was determined; not only to be in top physical form so that she could find her way back to the Doctor, but to repay the overwhelming kindness of her stepfather in offering her a life and home. She still rode into work with Pete in the mornings, but had Mickey bring her back to the mansion every night, long after Pete. 

As promised, Rose was in contact with the Pandimensional team - the group that had made the dimension hoppers. Much was discussed amongst them and the team had a rough blueprint for a dimension cannon as a potential long-term goal. Rose was excited, but the head of the team, Professor Fine, cautioned her strongly that it may not be possible to use such a device if the walls to the universe were closed and that even if it _were_ possible, it may not be advisable. 

Rose didn’t care about advisable. She had faith that the team could find a way around any potential dangers to this universe and that they’d be able, among them, to come up with an acceptable risk to the environment. Her hopes were high. She’d find the Doctor if he couldn’t find her.

Life at home was...interesting. Pete and Jackie appeared to have picked up right where they left off and, as far as Rose could tell, were fully a couple. She was glad: after twenty years of being a single mother, her mum deserved some happiness and stability. Besides, it was almost like what Rose had dreamed of when she was growing up. She spent time with her mum and Pete playing board games, watching telly or just talking - being a family. It wasn’t bad, she supposed. 

Her life at work wasn’t quite as smooth and pleasant.

People were starting to notice her, to talk about her. The still-confidential news that she was Pete Tyler’s daughter had raced through Torchwood like a brush fire, and it was now common knowledge that the Director had hired his daughter - who didn’t even have any A-levels - to not only be a field agent, but to work with the Pandimensional team as well. Most people were intrigued, but a few voices did whisper ‘nepotism’. There were sideways looks and a cold shoulder or two. 

Rose tried not to care. She was guarded with the people who tried to chat her up, fishing for information, and she ignored the rest. Agent Barton, as Mickey had promised, was a nice guy who worked her hard and she appreciated that he didn’t show her any preferential treatment. Professor Fine was interested in her input and was kind to her. Most people simply didn’t know her yet, she figured. 

But one day, she’d just be another person around the office.

That thought had come as a complete shock to Rose. A nasty one, at that. She felt sickened by the idea that she had slipped into the mindset of planning to stay in this universe. It seemed like a betrayal to the Doctor - the ultimate betrayal - that she would ever consider a life, day after day, without him; a beans-on-toast life where she wasn't doing her absolute best to return to him. She had to rush to the bathroom before she had burst into broken sobs in front of everyone.

~*~O~*~

Rose had been in Pete’s world for six weeks now, and she was making a bit of her life for herself. She knew that the Doctor would be proud of her for what she was doing, if he could see her. 

But she was starting to lose faith that he would come for her.

Her longing for him drove her every day as she trained, and she rather thought she’d been doing an admirable job of putting just how much she missed him out of her mind while she was active. Her mum had been right (again); keeping going had been the best thing for her.

But at night when she would retire to her room in Pete’s mansion, all of her grief and sorrow would come crashing back down on her. She’d allowed herself the sanctuary inside these four walls to feel whatever she felt as strongly as she felt and not have to hide it. She always cried; sometimes she raged and threw things, frequently she begged the ceiling. Every night, once she settled down, she’d lie in bed and let her thoughts linger on him. She wondered where he was, what he was doing. She wondered if he missed her, and cursed herself for never telling him she loved him. 

And then, every night, she would fall asleep with her cheeks wet with tears for her lost love and her hands folded together, fingers laced, pretending his hand was holding hers.

She wasn’t happy in this life - this life she was stuck in without her Doctor - but she was learning to cope. She wouldn’t lie down and die. Oh, no. Not Rose Tyler. Rose Tyler was a survivor, and she had a reason to keep going. 

If her Doctor was unable to come for her, then she had to find a way back to him.

~*~O~*~

Pete had warned Rose and Jackie that it was only a matter of time before the media got wind of the Vitex billionaire’s lost wife and daughter and started sniffing around. 

He wasn’t wrong. 

A little over six weeks after she fell through the void and a little over three weeks after she started going with Pete to Torchwood, rumors started circulating in the gossip pages about the two blondes at Pete Tyler’s mansion. The paparazzi camped out immediately, both at the mansion and at Vitex’s headquarters. After a lengthy discussion with his Director of Public Relations at Vitex, Pete decreed that the best way to handle the situation was to get out in front of the story; to release the information themselves before the story broke somewhere and they couldn’t control what was said. 

Rose was terrified at this prospect and opposed to being part of a story. She flat-out refused her mother’s excited requests until Pete pulled her aside and explained that life as his daughter would immediately thrust her into the public eye and he was sorry but it was a new reality she’d have to deal with as long as she stayed with him. He said he knew that making the story public would make her life much different, but life was going to be different now regardless and this would (hopefully) minimize the intrusiveness of the paparazzi into her life. He assured her that there would initially be a furor around her, but then it should all die down eventually.

He also told her that doing an article and making herself public had the added benefit of making her visible to the Doctor, should he return. If she were in the public eye, it would be much easier for him to track her down. The trick, he said, would be to keep the existence of the Doctor a closely-guarded secret so that when he _did_ show up, there would be very little hassle getting him to her. 

Even with that incentive, Rose didn’t back down from her refusal until Pete put his hand on her shoulder and told her with blunt words that, like it or not, she was an heiress now, and people were going to be interested. But he vowed he was going to protect her - Torchwood would protect her - and he truly felt that putting their names and faces in the public eye would have more benefits than downsides. 

All her life, she had wanted to have her dad there to sit her down and talk to her - to coach her and tell her what she should do in difficult life situations. It was with blind trust in her not-quite-father that she finally capitulated in a sea of tears and a hug from Pete that was much more understanding than she ever could have expected or hoped for.

Rose was still afraid. For her entire life she’d seen celebrities having their lives documented in magazines and on telly, and she wasn’t sure she wanted that. Aliens didn’t scare her, but the idea of swarming photographers did. Pete assured her, once again, that although the attention would be intense at first, it would soon dwindle, just cropping up every now and then as time passed. But that no matter what, she wouldn’t be alone. She was grateful.

~*~O~*~

Rose and Jackie were introduced to a woman named Tricia who said that she was going to be their stylist. Jackie was practically giddy at the prospect of being dressed up like a Barbie doll. Rose just rolled her eyes.

Tricia brought in a team of other stylists who all seemed to have a specialty. Some dragged in clothes, some did hair, others did makeup, and one seemed to specialize in jewelry. All of them seemed intent on decorating the Tyler women. Rose played along, offering her opinions and smiling politely when they told her how beautiful she was, how clear her skin was and what a fantastic figure she had. When one of the ladies told her that her eyes held the softness of a woman in love and asked who the lucky bloke was, Rose’s carefully constructed mask of calm and acceptance broke and she ran from the room in tears. Jackie hopped up from the stylist’s chair she’d been in and followed her, comforting her daughter even with her hair half-covered in rollers. After a lengthy cry on her mum’s shoulder (and a watery laugh at her mum’s current hairdo), Rose pulled herself together enough to come back out and finish the styling session.

Rose and Jackie were waxed, manicured, pedicured, blow-dried, dressed, re-dressed, and styled to absolute perfection.

Jackie looked like she would positively die from joy. Rose gave perfunctory smiles as needed. 

On the day of the photo shoot for the interview, the two Tyler women stood in front of the mirrors admiring their reflections in their first outfits of the day, under Tricia’s approving gaze. They were both beautiful. Jackie wore a pink blouse and skirt that perfectly accentuated her curves, appropriate for her age while still looking youthful. Rose wore knee-high fawn-colored boots, a floaty dress that fell to just above her knees and a loose-fitting sweater over top. The effect was very chic, and Rose smiled a little at herself in the mirror. 

It occurred to her when she looked at her reflection and saw how pretty she looked that it was the first time in weeks that she’d felt something besides the agony of loss. The realization hit her hard and guilt crept in, until she remembered how much the Doctor had always enjoyed it when she rummaged around in the wardrobe, trying on different outfits from different times and planets. 

_This is just like that,_ she told herself firmly. _He’d really be enjoying this._

For the first time since she arrived in Pete’s World, thinking of him made her smile a little.

Tricia gave each of them an appraising look, most likely searching for flaws in their appearance, her finger on her chin thoughtfully. She then spoke to an assistant over her shoulder without looking, acknowledging the woman with a lazy gesture. 

“The coral bib, I think, for Jackie. And the silver links for Rose.” Tricia nodded to herself as the assistant scurried away, pleased with her choice. The assistant reappeared a heartbeat later carrying the two necklaces Tricia had called for.

Jackie gratefully accepted the necklace handed to her with a cooing sound of pleasure but Rose held up a hand when the assistant approached her. “I’ve got a necklace, ta.”

“M’dear,” Tricia made a dismissive flick of her fingers, “that’s a key on a white gold chain.”

“Yeah,” Rose said, her voice cool. “And it’s my necklace. I’ll not be takin’ it off.”

Tricia scoffed. “Whyever not, dear? It’s a _key_. Put it on your keyring!”

“It’s a key to my _home_ , alright?” she replied, her temper flaring a little. “And it’s all I have left of that home, and it’s not comin’ off.”

Jackie stepped in. “I think we can leave the key as it is. If she wants it, she wears it. You look lovely, Rose.”

Rose grabbed her mother’s hand and gave it a squeeze. 

Tricia huffed. “Well if you’re _satisfied_ with your appearance...” The stylist cast Rose a disparaging look. Rose narrowed her eyes. “Let’s head down to the photoshoot.”

~*~O~*~

Rose had never had her photo taken anywhere but by her mum, her friends and at the department store at Christmas. Having a professional photographer pose and coach her like a model was a new experience, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She felt beautiful but very self-conscious at the same time. 

It turned out that Rose was going to be the major focus of the article. The long lost heiress to billions of pounds - who also happened to also look like a model - was quite the story, and the journalist asked tons of questions. Pete and Jackie were there and vetoed any questions that seemed too emotional or intrusive.

This version of Earth was more open to all things odd and science-fiction-y, particularly after the cyberman attack. Still the idea of Pete’s wife and daughter being from a parallel dimension was not something the Tylers wanted to bandy about, so they fabricated a story about Pete and Jackie faking Jackie’s death so that she could go off in search of the long-lost daughter they’d put up for adoption. 

Rose thought the story was about as solid as candyfloss, but she went along with it and smiled as needed.

They made the cover of Lifetime magazine, the three of them looking glamorous and beautiful, and if Rose’s eyes looked hollow and her smile wooden, well, there wasn’t anyone on this planet who would know the difference.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. New, tentative update plan in place. 
> 
> I just finished writing Chapter 9. This fic seems to just be flowing out of my fingers lately. But if we stick to a once-a-week schedule, I won't get Chapter 9 posted until the middle of June. So as of right now, I'm going back to my Kintsugi schedule of Mondays and Thursdays. If I lose my cushion (or tenroseforeverandever says so), we're going back to once a week. Sound good?
> 
> Coming soon: Who's that guy?


	5. With a Little Help From a Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna Noble spots the interview and brings it to the attention of a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here he is!

“Dr. Dixon?”

A man dressed in a jumper and black jeans answered to that name, and the barista smiled at him as she indicated his coffee was ready. He smiled back politely, walking up to take it. “Thank you, Chloe.”

Chloe was obviously proud of the coffee she had made for him. “I put a little extra cream in it for you, and some of that syrup we just got in. I think you might like it.” She looked bashful.

He inclined his head and gave her another little smile, more reserved this time. “That’s very kind Chloe, thank you.”

“I have more of it, you know, back here. If you want some, that is. Or if it’s rubbish I’ll make you an all-new coffee. Your choice. I’ll do whatever you want.”

The girl flushed bright red, ducking her head, and the Doctor resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It seemed there was a similar exchange every time he came in here. He wasn’t remotely interested in the girl. He supposed he _should_ be but...no.

“Just...just let me know,” Chloe said and the Doctor nodded as he walked away, headed to his usual spot. 

The Doctor - known in this world as Doctor George Dixon, professor of astrophysics - had a little while before his first class of the day, and it had become habit to stop at this little shop and sip coffee, read the paper, then finish his walk to work. His first class started in an hour and the quiet clutter of the coffee shop was always pleasant. He usually took his time there to gather his thoughts for the day or make up lesson plans, sometimes just read a book for pleasure. The only somewhat bothersome thing about the place was the infatuated barista.

He’d been here on this Earth for a little over a year and, as Blon Fel Fotch had said, he’d grown accustomed to his funny little human life. He had a flat, a job, and a car, although he still walked to most nearby places. He’d established little routines - running four days a week, stopping by the coffee shop on the way to work. He missed the stars terribly, but not having to be the Doctor for all of the Universe’s problems had been a boon for him. Now he was able to relax and be the Doctor he had always wanted to be: the more relaxed Doctor that he had strove to be for Rose during their down-time on the TARDIS. Occasionally he found himself longing for adventure but when he did, it was easy to take a few days and trot off to some exotic landscape here on Earth. 

He didn’t do that often, though. His purpose for being here wasn’t ‘traveling’. He was waiting. Waiting for the reason he’d been sent.

He was waiting for Rose.

She was always in his thoughts, and sometimes he felt her loss like a physical pain. All of the excitement of safaris and treks through the jungle was dimmed without her by his side, holding his hand, letting him see all of the world’s wonders through her cinnamon-colored eyes. He’d even found himself watching the same type of insipid telly that they always watched together on the TARDIS, and he’d find himself turning excitedly to tell her something more times than he could count. He had chips regularly just to remind himself of her, and always doused them in vinegar the way she liked them. 

When he regenerated, the Doctor had begged the TARDIS to let him be what she needed. His Old Girl had made him human and stationed him here. The Doctor had panicked at first when he woke up in a flat surrounded by doors and walls and curtains and books. He was unsure of what had happened to him and how he came to be in this life. After he settled down and thought back on his request, he could only assume that it was intended that he find Rose here, on this parallel version of Earth. 

So he had searched and, finding no Rose Tyler, he had waited, telling himself over and over that she was real, not a figment of his human imagination, and that she’d come. The TARDIS had sent him and he did his best to maintain faith in his purpose. It was all he wanted out of his life now, to be “What Rose Needed”, and he believed that she’d eventually come. 

He wasn’t sure what role he would play in her life when he finally found her - that would be her choice. It would _always_ be her choice. But he longed for her. He thought back to the time that they spent together on the TARDIS, adventuring as The-Doctor-and-Rose, and he wished with all of his single heart for more time with her. All the time, his longing for her was like an ache in his very soul. In the quiet times, when he was left alone with his thoughts - like in the quiet he sought out in his favorite coffee shop - he missed her even more.

He scooped the paper off of a nearby chair on his way to his regular table, tucking it under his leather-clad arm and bringing the coffee to his lips. Chloe had made the coffee too sweet for his taste and the Doctor grimaced. But he’d drink it. He’d endure the horrid taste before he let the girl think he was paying her more than due attention and taking her up on her thinly-veiled offers. So he ignored the cloying taste (which reminded him of her cloying personality) and soldiered on. At least there was a coffee pot in his department of the university. He’d have some decent coffee later.

“Oi! Spaceman!”

Speaking of fixtures in his department of of the university…

He set his coffee down on the table beside his folded paper and sighed a little, smiling. _Donna_. His hopes for quiet solitude were ruined but that was alright, he supposed. She’d become his closest friend and confidante, the one person on this Earth he’d told his entire story to since he’d been here. She’d accepted his tale, although he didn’t know if she fully believed it or not. Even if she didn’t she’d been a good friend to him. Most of his colleagues called him ‘Dixon’ but Donna, along with the students, had respected his wishes that he be called ‘Doctor’. Well, at least she did when she wasn’t calling him ‘Spaceman’.

“Morning, Donna,” he smiled at his friend.

“Morning, Doctor,” she said, taking a seat across the table from him. “Thought I might find you here.”

“You know me so well,” he deadpanned. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Oh, nothing really,” she said, airy. “Looking for you, mostly, to make sure you’re not being sexually harassed again.”

“Sexually harassed?!” he said, surprised.

Donna smirked and pointed towards his cup of coffee. “You gonna do anything about that?”

The Doctor thought for just a second that she was talking about the ultra-sweet coffee, then realized that she would have no way of knowing it wasn't any good. Confused, he asked, “About what?”

Donna inclined her head toward the counter and the Doctor followed the gesture to find Chloe looking over at them with a sad expression. 

He was succinct when he turned back to Donna. “No.”

“Poor thing. You must have shot her down again,” Donna commiserated. “Unrequited love is a bitch.”

The Doctor didn’t answer, he just tried to hide his smile behind his coffee cup. He’d certainly made an entertaining friend in Donna. 

“No, I’m not being harassed. Any more than usual, anyway. Now that you’re satisfied of my safety, did you come for a reason? Here to harass me yourself?”

“Me? Harass you? Never.”

The Doctor snorted. “You harass me on a daily basis, Donna.” 

“Only for the best possible reasons. You’re the most fun person to harass I know.”

“Did you have a message or something?”

Donna shook her head. “No, not exactly.”

“Not exactly?”

“How long have you been here?” she asked, apropos of nothing. 

“Just sat down.”

“Not here, I mean _here_.”

“Oh. A year, two months, a week, and four days,” he recited.

“And you’re still looking for your lost girlfriend?”

“She wasn’t my girlfriend, but yes. I’m looking for Rose.”

“Rose Tyler?”

The Doctor stiffened. He didn’t think he’d ever told Rose’s full name to Donna. This was going somewhere. “Yes. What about it?”

“Could be nothing.”

“Probably is,” the Doctor chided her, “but won’t know nothing if you don’t start talking, me.”

“I saw something this morning, made me think of you. Maybe it was all in my head.”

“What did you see?” The Doctor asked, a growing anxiousness overtaking him. 

Donna shrugged. “Just this.”

She pulled a magazine from her tote bag and flopped it onto the table between them. The Doctor turned it so that it was right side up in front of him. Rose, Jackie, and Pete Tyler smiled at him from the cover. 

“Rose,” he breathed. 

“So it _is_ the right Rose? You’re in love with the Vitex heiress?”

The Doctor didn’t answer, he just stared down at the cover of the magazine. The three Tylers sat on a white couch in a sumptuous lounge and although Jackie and Pete were clearly there, he could only really see Rose. His eyes were full of Rose. His mind and heart were full of _Rose_.

_Blimey, she was beautiful._

He’d never seen her hair that short or her makeup quite like that, and she wore a simple, casual pink dress. And...bloody hell, was that the TARDIS key around her neck?

The Doctor tipped over his coffee when he nearly tore the cover of the magazine off in his haste to find the table of contents. Donna deftly caught the drink before it could completely empty itself, and managed to keep most of the spilled coffee on the table before she started dabbing at the table with napkins, catching most of it before it could run over the sides. 

He wasn’t even distracted by the feeling of hot coffee pouring onto his leg, nor by Donna’s outraged ‘Oi!’ On the contents page, he found another smaller picture of the Tylers in different attire with the words ‘ _cover story, page 63_.’

He was not gentle when he flipped to page 63, post haste.

“Rose Reclaimed,” he read. Donna asked again if this were his Rose. He ignored her and read aloud in response: 

“Pete Tyler got the surprise of his life recently, when he found out that he wasn’t quite the widower he’d thought. It turned out that his wife, Jackie, had not been taken and killed in the Cyberman invasion as he had believed; she had gone away on an ultra-secretive quest to find the daughter they’d put up for adoption.” The Doctor’s lone heart nearly beat out of his chest. He skimmed down the page…

”Young Rose Tyler, 24, is adjusting slowly to her new life amongst London’s movers and shakers. ’I haven’t met many people yet. Mostly I’ve just hung around Mum and Dad’s, gotten to know m’Dad a bit. I’m going out a bit now, though,’ she adds with a little smile. ‘It’ll be nice to meet some friends, I s’pose.’ When asked if she’d like to meet someone special, Rose’s bright smile fades and she fiddles with the chain around her neck absently. ‘No,’ she says quietly. ‘I’m not interested in meeting a bloke. Not over the last one. He was special.’”

The Doctor restrained from kissing the glossy page with a mighty effort. His eyes jumped to the opposite page where Rose was balancing on a railroad tie, barefoot, wearing jeans and a baggy sweater, a small smile on her face that didn’t reach her eyes. She was trying to be happy.

The key to the TARDIS swung from the chain he’d given her. 

“Oh, Rose,” he groaned out loud. 

“That’s her?” 

“That’s her,” the Doctor answered without looking up, his smile broadening. “She’s here. She’s actually here.”

“She’s the Vitex heiress,” Donna pointed out. “You’re not going to be able to get anywhere near her.”

“Saved her from the middle of a Dalek fleet once, me. M’not worried.”

Donna looked at him skeptically. He didn’t notice, and wouldn’t have cared if he had. Rose, his beautiful, impossible, _precious_ Rose was smiling wistfully on the page in front of him.

 _Rose is here. She’s here. She’s really here,_ he chanted to himself.

Chloe approached the table, a towel in hand to clean up his mess. He looked down at the drink dripping from the table and soaking his newspaper and had the grace to feel embarrassed. “I’m so sorry, Chloe.” He grabbed a wad of napkins offered by Donna to attend to the spill.

“No problem,” the girl smiled at him, removing the sodden paper so that she could mop up the spilled coffee. “I’ve got it, you just sit there.”

Rolling her eyes and turning back to the Doctor, Donna asked, “So what are you going to do, Spaceman?” 

The Doctor abandoned the wiping to look back at the picture of Rose in his left hand. He felt his entire body soften and relax as she took her in: the way the gentle waves of her hair were swaying by her face, the way her fingers spread delicately as she balanced on the beam, the glint of the TARDIS key on her necklace as it rocked from her neck... 

“Oh, Rose,” he said again, involuntarily. 

“That’s big news, that is,” Chloe said. “Lost heiress and all that. You know her?”

The Doctor didn’t spare the girl a glance. “Something like that,” he muttered, his answer absent of thought. 

Chloe looked at him. “You’re taking the mick. How’d you know Rose Tyler, then? She’s a billionaire! People like that don’t usually hobnob with the likes of _us_ ,” she snorted.

“Oi!” Donna protested. 

The Doctor just smiled down at Rose again. “Maybe I _don’t_ know her,” he said, still drinking in her picture, and the thought paralyzed him for a moment before a smile grew. “But I bet I do.”

Chloe cocked her head to the side. “Wha-”

He jumped to his feet, folding the magazine and tucking it under his arm. “Gotta run. Ta, Chloe. Donna,” he bent and kissed the top of Donna’s head. “You’re the best. Thank you.”

“My pleasure, Spaceman,” she answered with a grin. “We’ll just clean up here, shall we?”

But he was gone.

Chloe looked at the door, swinging closed behind him. “Dr. Dixon and the Vitex heiress?”

Donna merely reached across the table to pick up his abandoned, half-empty cup. “Life’s about to get interesting, Chloe. Very interesting indeed.” She took a sip and made a face. “Blimey, that’s sweet!”

~*~O~*~

“Mr. Tyler?” a young man’s voice called from the entrance to the house. “Mrs. Tyler?”

Pete stepped into the foyer of his home and intercepted the young man with raised hands and a low voice. “Jackie is asleep. She’s tired after being out all day, so we’ll leave her to rest. Let’s keep it down, please.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What do you have for me?”

The guard adjusted his shoulders. “There’s a man at the gatehouse, sir. He’s asking after Rose.”

“Another one?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Reporter?”

“No sir, doesn’t seem to be. This one claims...he says he’s her doctor.”

Pete grabbed the young man’s bicep. “What did you say?”

“Just that, sir. He says he’s Rose’s doctor.”

Pete’s mind was whirling. “How did he get here?”

The guard shrugged. “I didn’t pay a lot of attention to that, sir. A blue car. Honda? Toyota? Audi? I didn’t notice, sir.”

“Not a blue _box_?”

The guard was visibly confused. “Sir?”

“Nevermind. What’s he look like?”

“Tall, dark hair, blue eyes, big ears and nose. Beard and a northern accent.”

Pete narrowed his eyes questioningly. “Northern accent and a beard?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Skinny bloke?”

The guard shrugged. “Not fat. Just a regular bloke.”

That wasn’t right. The Doctor was skinny. Proper skinny. Still…

“What’s he wearing?”

The guard tilted his head to the side. “Leather jacket, jumper-”

Pete pinched the bridge of his nose. The word must have somehow got out that they were looking for the Doctor, now the crazies were turning up. He sighed heavily. There was nothing about that description that fit the Doctor. It must be some random fortune hunter. But for a minute, he’d hoped...he’d hoped so much for Rose’s sake…

He shook his head, disappointed. “Send him away. I don’t care what you tell him, but he’s not the man we’re looking for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm well ahead at this point (writing Chapter 12 today), so twice-weekly updates will continue for a while. :)  
> The Doctor has a beard in this fic because Christopher Eccleston with a beard makes me purr a little.


	6. The Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor searches for Rose.

The Doctor balled up another sheet of paper in frustration and tossed it towards the overflowing rubbish bin. Desperation was starting to paw at him.

He’d tried nearly everything he could think of to contact Rose, even just to get a _message_ to her, but none of the methods he was using seemed to be working. He’d tried going to the Tyler’s mansion, then he’d tried to find her at Pete Tyler’s company, Vitex. He’d tried to track down a number for _any_ of the Tylers, knowing that Jackie could vouch for who he was. He was starting to feel like a bit of a stalker, reading the red tops to find out where Rose would be appearing. Three days of that and nothing. Finally, he’d settled on Donna’s suggested next step: writing a letter to Rose. He hoped that it would get through to her somehow, even if the method seemed antiquated to him. Maybe its simplicity would be his saving grace.

So he’d sat down with pen and paper and started to write. And then started again. And again. Then again. He had so much to tell her, so very much. The problem was that the right words wouldn’t come. He had no idea what to say to her; how did he explain how he was there and why? He wasn’t _entirely_ sure of that himself. 

He couldn’t pour his heart out in a letter, especially considering he’d never been particularly forthcoming about how he felt about her when they were together. Rose _knew_... of course she _knew_. She was brilliant, after all. But he’d never _said_. If he had, maybe this would be easier.

No, he decided, it wouldn’t. This was bound to be an impossible task no matter what.

The Doctor wondered for the millionth time if he had actually properly regenerated or just vanished in a burst of flame. He always assumed that he had regenerated while this body, his ninth, had...transgenerated. He wondered about his tenth form and what that version of himself had been like with Rose. Had his new body loved Rose as much as he had? Did he recognize that she was all he needed? Had he ever gotten his head out of his own arse and told the girl just what she meant to him? 

Did the two of them still cuddle on the couch every night and watch telly? Did he still hold Rose’s hand every chance he got? Did he struggle, every moment, not to snog her breathless? Did he treat her well? He assumed his tenth body had been at least been a decent enough bloke that she could stay with him, so he supposed that was something. Although Rose was notoriously compassionate. Forgiving. He could have turned into a right arse and Rose might have stayed, anyway. 

He hoped he hadn’t.

As long as he lived - however long that was, now - he’d never forget the moment Donna showed him the article of the Tylers, featuring the ‘miracle daughter’ that Jackie claimed to have disappeared for years to go find and get to know. It was plausible, he supposed. But the TARDIS key around Rose’s neck had told him exactly who the ‘reclaimed Rose’ really was. Something had exploded in him upon seeing the glossy photo of Rose balancing on a railroad tie, smiling the smile that he knew from a year and a half of cohabitation. The Doctor had learned everything he could about her while they lived together on the TARDIS with the fervency known only to a man besotted. That particular smile in that photo meant that she was working to appear happy, to avoid disappointing someone. Well he supposed that in this case, she was worried about disappointing someone other than him. Jackie, perhaps. 

But it was _her_. He knew it. It was the only thing that made sense. That was the TARDIS key swinging on the chain he’d bought her in London just before they went to Cardiff, then reinforced to make it unbreakable with the sonic. Jack had been with him when he bought it. The Doctor had given it to her at a chippie, the site of their “first date”, on the anniversary of said date. She’d never stopped wearing it, apparently. It was symbolic of her accessibility to him. That key was the tangible proof that he’d always be there for her. That she’d always have a safe home, with him.

Pete Tyler had created a nigh-impenetrable fortress around his Rose, and as much as the protective walls Pete had built around her were getting in his way right at the mo, he was pleased to know that she was safe here on this Earth, too. 

But now it was time to try to breach those defenses and get to her another way. Donna had suggested a letter, so here went nothing. 

He bent his head to write and vowed silently to accept what he came up with this time. He could find the right words. For Rose, he knew he could.

~*~O~*~

“Rose! You’ve got post!”

Rose was puzzled when her heart stuttered at the announcement from her mother. There was absolutely no reason for the surge of hope that shot up inside her, and she tried to tamp it down. 

“What is it?” she asked politely. 

“Dunno,” Jackie answered. “From the uni. Probably a solicitation. You’re about the right age and it would boost their profile…”

“And their wallet,” Pete quipped, joining them and sifting through his own mail. 

Rose took the letter and looked at the envelope. Her name and Pete’s address were typed onto the cream-colored paper. The return address indicated the physics and astronomy department. 

Some wild hope clawed at her, and she ignored it. It wasn’t possible. Was it?

“That’s odd,” she muttered, pretending even for herself. She opened the envelope and pulled out the contents. “Why would the physics depart be contacting - _oh!_ ”

She exclaimed when she opened the letter and sat down hard on the bench behind her. Her hand went to her throat and her breath caught. “Oh, oh God.”

“Rose? Rose!” Pete and Jackie each called out to her. “What is it?”

Rose didn’t answer. She just scanned the paper with eyes full of tears while her parents looked at her, nonplussed. 

“It’s him,” she finally breathed. “Mum, he’s _here_.”

“Let me see that.” Jackie snatched the letter and scanned it herself. Rose just stared at her, her face full radiant joy, her eyes shining with tears. 

“It says, _'Dear Rose, I am writing you since I can’t seem to get word to you any other way. Sorry this is likely so hard to read'._ Blimey,” Jackie interrupted herself. “This is nearly illegible.”

“It’s his writing!” Rose cried.

“What’s it say, Jacks?” Pete barked.

“ _'I’ve no idea what you must think of me after you saw me burst into flame. Bit thoughtless, me, not to tell you that could happen. I thought we’d have more time.'_ ”

“He’s talking about regeneration. It’s him,” Rose breathed. “No one else would know that.” Twin tears fell from her lashes.

“That’s barking, Rose. He’s talking as though he just changed yesterday, and that was almost a year ago! I don’t like it, not one bit.”

“I’m making some calls,” Pete announced, pulling out his phone and stepping away.

“Mum, I’m sure of it. That’s him! I don’t know what happened, but I know it’s him! That’s his handwriting!”

Jackie scowled, but went on. “ _'I hope you stayed with me, if I regenerated. I saw your magazine article and you were still wearing your key, so I assume you did. I also assume I cocked up somehow and landed you here, alone.'_ Oi! She’s not alone, the plonker!”

“He’s here,” she cried. “Mum, he’s here! He saw the key!”

“Keep reading, Jacks, please,” Pete prompted with the phone to his ear.

Jackie sighed and returned to the letter. “ _'Anyway, the purpose of this letter is to let you know that I’m here. I’ll explain all the ‘how and why’s that I have when I see you. Provided you want to see me, that is. I’d really love to see you, though, Rose.'_ ”

Pete talked into his phone across the room in the corner, throwing furtive glances over at his wife and daughter.

“ _'I’m working as an astrophysics professor at the University. It’s not so bad; at least I’m well-versed in the source material. I do hope that I’ll hear from you, Rose. I’ve missed you terribly.'_

_”'Yours, the Doctor (currently known as Dr. George Dixon)'.”_

Pete absorbed this information and muttered ‘Dr. George Dixon’ into his phone. Jackie lowered the letter. “Rose…” she cautioned.

“It’s him, Mum. I know it. I _feel_ it.” Jackie just stared at her and Rose continued. “I recognize that name he’s using. He used it when we were in New Vegas, two hundred years from now. In his last body. That was a name he went by.”

“This doesn’t sound like a professor, Rose,” Jackie argued, brandishing the letter, sounding skeptical.

“Mum, it’s the _Doctor_! That’s how he talks. You know that. He knows things that no one else could _possibly_ know. He saw the TARDIS key! He talked about regeneration! Plus, that’s his _handwriting_! I’d recognize that scrawl anywhere!”

“He checks out, initially,” Pete claimed, rejoining his family. “Records say that George Dixon has been employed by the university for about four years, but Torchwood only has record of him for a little over a year. That could be a fluke on our part. I’m digging more.”

“It’s not a fluke. It’s him,” Rose insisted, wiping her eyes and standing up. “Right. I’m leaving.”

“Rose!” Jackie protested. “What if it’s a hoax! What if he’s just making guesses? At least let your father check out the area-” 

“Mum, you know better than anyone that the Doctor would rather die than hurt me, and he’d kill before he let anyone touch me. It’s safe. I’m leaving.”

“Not without Mickey, you’re not.” Pete started dialing. “Wait til he gets here before you leave.”

~*~O~*~

Rose entered the physics department of the university and looked around, her eyes searching for the Doctor. There was a picture on the wall of the large office, and it made Rose’s heart flare to life. That wasn’t the Doctor she’d just lost...that was…

Something clicked into place in Rose’s mind.

“Blimey.” Astonished, Mickey took a step towards the picture. “That looks like-”

“Can I help you?” a voice asked, startling her. Rose looked over to see a ginger-haired woman sitting behind the desk, looking up from her computer. Her nameplate listed her as _Donna Noble, Department Secretary, Physics and Astronomy_. Mickey gave Rose a gentle nudge to the back, pushing her forward. 

Rose slid the large sunglasses off of her nose and into her hair. “Um, hi, yes. I’m Ro-”

“You’re Rose Tyler,” Donna uttered, breathless. 

She flushed. “Yes, and I was hoping-”

The ginger-haired woman squealed. “I know why you’re here. Oh, this is _brilliant_!” Donna exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Rose felt Mickey brace himself behind her.

“You do?” she asked.

“Mhm, and I’m so glad to see you. Proves I was right all along. He doesn’t like when I’m right, but I don’t think he’ll mind _this_ time!”

Rose was confused. “I’m sorry…”

“Who are _you_?” she demanded of Mickey.

“I’m Mickey Smith,” Mickey answered, straightening his shoulders with a distinctly defensive tone. “M’here with Rose.”

“Oh, yes, I’ve heard about you,” Donna said, sounding much less dazzled.

Mickey snorted, but Rose’s head was full of buzzing and if he responded to Donna, she didn’t hear it.

Donna approached Rose carefully, as if worried about startling her. “You’re here to see the Doctor, yes?”

Rose’s heart fluttered. _The Doctor. The Doctor. She said ‘the Doctor’. Oh my God._

She could only nod. Finding her voice after a moment, she fairly squeaked, “Is he here?”

Donna nodded and smiled kindly. “He’s in a lecture, but he’d never forgive me if I didn’t interrupt him for _this_. Come with me.”

Rose turned to Mickey with wide, anxious eyes, and he nodded encouragingly. “Let’s go. S’why we came.”

She turned to follow the ginger woman down the corridor.

~*~O~*~

Astronomy 103 - or Solar System - was one of the Doctor’s favorite classes to teach, although it presented its own challenges. The students were typically bright, majoring in physics or astronomy, and while this class was anything but simple, it provided most of them a break from the crushing, complicated maths and physics requirements of their other courses. 

Today it was providing him with a mental break as well. It was the work of nothing to let the front of his brain teach these kids while, in the back of his mind, he spun around for other ways to find Rose. He’d tried to blow off classes until he found her, utterly single-minded, but Donna wouldn’t let him. She reminded him that he’d sent a letter from the university, and he needed to be available there.

He hated when Donna was right.

“Right you lot, let’s talk about dwarf planets. Who can tell me the classifying characteristics of a dwarf planet?”

A hand went up and the Doctor pointed at it. “They’re round,” the young man attached to the hand said.

The Doctor held up a finger. “Close, but not exactly. A dwarf planet must have enough mass to pull itself into a hydrostatic equilibrium shape, and that’s most commonly a spheroid. But it _can_ , in certain circumstances, be slightly oblong. What else?”

Another hand went up. “Orbits the sun.”

“Correct. And one more?”

“Orbital dominance.”

“Correct. Dwarf planets don’t clear their celestial neighborhood around them. Of course, it could be argued that the other planets don’t, either,” the Doctor said, pushing up off of his desk and turning to the whiteboard, taking up the marker. “Who can name the known dwarf planets in our solar system for me?”

“Pluto,” someone called out. The Doctor nodded and scrawled it on the board. “Yes, Pluto. Named for the Roman lord of the underworld. Demoted from planetary status in 2006, it’s still considered by many to be the ninth planet. It has five satellites. Who can name them?”

“Charon, Hydra, Nix, Styx, and Kerberos.”

“That’s right. All of them are characters from the legend of Pluto. Who can give me another dwarf planet?”

“Ceres,” came another voice.

“Makemake,” was another answer. The Doctor nodded and his hand flew across the board, writing the two names. 

“Doctor?”

He froze. He heard the rustle of bodies behind him, turning toward the interrupting voice, and bowed his head. No. His mind must finally have broken. It couldn’t be. It _couldn’t_ be.

“Doctor? S’that you?”

_It was._

He turned around and looked at the top of the lecture theater. 

There she was. _Rose._

She was thin, thinner than he remembered, and she wore denims with a blue jumper, sunglasses perched on top of her head. The chain that he knew held the TARDIS key glinted around her slender neck and the Doctor thought she was the most lovely thing he’d ever seen in nine hundred years.

“Rose,” he whispered.

“Is it you?” She took a couple of steps forward and he could hear the tears in her voice. She covered her beautiful smile and crossed one arm over her belly, bobbing her head. “It’s really you, isn’t it?”

“Rose,” he choked out again, his voice strangled. 

“It’s me. And it’s _you_.”

With that final word, a word of acceptance, he broke into the widest smile he could remember and took off running down the aisle towards her. He threw down the marker and took the stairs two at a time. Rose scurried down the steps towards him. He drew to a stop halfway up the aisle, and just in time.

Rose leapt into his open arms, throwing her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. 

“Doctor,” she sobbed into his shoulder. “It’s you, you’re here.”

He said her name again, one arm around her back like steel, the other hand buried in her hair. “Rose. Oh, Rose. It’s me.”

Rose wept and he felt tears splash his own cheeks as well. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, his first smell of home since he’d transgenerated. 

“Doctor, my Doctor,” she cried, and he held her closer.

He couldn't think of what to say. After fourteen long months she was there, in his arms, her scent and presence surrounding him. He was giddy. He was elated. His hearts (heart, now) had never felt so full. But he couldn't think. Finally he opened his mouth into her shoulder and just let one of his jumbled thoughts out.

“You cut your hair.”

Rose's tears were interrupted by her surprised laugh. "Yeah, I did."

"You're here," he whispered, swaying her on the spot. "You're here."

"So are you."

“I’m here, precious girl. I’m here. For you.”

She cried harder and he laughed, the joy in his heart too much to contain. 

“Class dismissed,” he heard from the classroom door. He cracked open an eye and spotted Donna there, beaming down at him, standing beside Mickey. He mouthed a thank you to her, to them, then closed his eyes again to drown in the sensation of Rose Tyler, safe in his arms, right where she belonged.


	7. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose have some 'splainin' to do.

The class cleared out around them, but Rose didn’t let go of the Doctor. She wasn't sure she’d ever be able to let him go. She certainly didn’t want to.

She’d thought she’d never see him - _this_ him - again. She’d thought he’d died, and the idea had crushed her. She loved her second Doctor, but she’d loved this version of him first. He was precious to her. So precious. 

Rose squeezed him tighter, and he reciprocated. 

It was a long moment before she unwrapped her arms and legs from him, lowering herself to the ground. He brought his newly-free hands up to cup her face, and she leaned into the touch. His eyes sparkled with tears. 

“You look so beautiful, Rose,” he whispered, then kissed her forehead. 

She laughed because she couldn’t help the joy bubbling up in her, and reached up to touch his face as well. 

“This is new,” she said, rubbing her fingers in his short beard. 

“Thought it might make me look more academic,” he smiled. “D’you like it?”

“I love it,” she admitted honestly, then laughed and hugged him again. He squeezed her tight. 

“I just never want to let go,” he murmured into her hair.

“Me neither.”

“Let’s not,” he suggested. 

“Deal.”

Eventually though, with the sound of a cleared throat, the two let their arms drop from each other’s bodies. The Doctor grasped Rose’s hand as soon as it was beside him. 

Mickey and Donna made their way down to them, and Rose noted both of their pleased expressions. It made her smile harder, if such a thing were possible. 

“Mickey the Idiot!” the Doctor cheered. “Damned good to see you.”

Mickey smiled warily at this declaration and extended his hand to the Doctor. The Doctor brushed it aside and pulled the younger man into a short bear hug. Mickey looked over the Doctor’s shoulder, giving Rose an uncertain look, but she just beamed. It was all she was able to do. 

The Doctor released Mickey and reclaimed Rose’s hand automatically. She threaded her fingers through his, and he gave her a brilliant smile. 

“I see you’ve met my friend, Donna.” 

Rose extended her free hand. “I’m pleased to meet you.” 

“Not as happy as I am to meet you,” Donna replied. “This one’s a right grouch without you. Maybe he’ll be better, now you’re around.”

Rose laughed. “The Doctor? A grouch? Say it ain’t so!”

“Oi now,” the Doctor said, his bright grin giving lie to any outrage. 

Rose turned to the Doctor. “How long have you been here? How did you get here? Is it really, really you?”

He chuckled. “It’s really, really me, Rose,” he said, bringing his hand back up to her cheek, giving her a tender look. 

Donna spoke up. “Mickey, I think these two could use a few minutes to themselves to catch up.” She gestured broadly. “May I show you around?”

Mickey looked at Rose as if to gain approval and she gave an excited nod. 

“Yeah, alright,” he agreed. Rose shot him a grateful look and the Doctor offered his hand. Mickey took it.

“Thank you, Mickey,” the Doctor said sincerely. “Should’ve known you’d stay with Rose and take care of her.”

“I’ll always be there for Rose.”

“Good man,” the Doctor said.

“We’ll be off, then,” Donna spoke up.

Mickey looked to Rose again. “You’re alright, Babe?”

Rose looked up at the Doctor. “Never better,” she beamed. Mickey nodded and followed Donna up the stairs and out of the room. 

As soon as they were out of sight the Doctor had Rose back in his arms, clutching her to him, and her heart soared. “I thought I’d never see you again,” she said into his shoulder. “Especially this you.”

“You stayed with me, then?” he asked, pulling back. “I changed and you stayed with me?”

Rose nodded. Then, remembering, she reached up and cuffed him on the arm. 

“Ow! What was that for?” he asked, rubbing the spot she’d hit.

“For not _telling_ me about regeneration! I thought you’d died! Or that you were a Slitheen!”

“Not a Slitheen, me,” he said, taking her hand. “That was supposed to happen. Saved my life. Well, his life. So I’m a big fellow now?”

“No, actually,” Rose answered, melancholy threatening her words. “You’re a skinny bloke,” she told him. “With lots more hair than you had.”

“Ginger?”

She giggled. “No, not ginger. But rude.”

He quirked a brow at her. “Rude?”

“Yes, quite. Had to remind you to behave all the time.”

“Figures,” he grumbled, but smiled anyway. Rose grinned. “What else am I like?”

“Well, you’re still tall, which just makes you look skinnier. Got a hell of a gob on you, you do.”

The Doctor shook his head ruefully. “Talked your ear off, did I?”

“Talked _everyone’s_ ear off.” She grinned at him. 

“Tell me I didn’t wear something daft.”

She cocked her head to the side. “How do you mean?”

“I’ve not always...well, I’ve been a bit of a walking fashion crime more than once.” He flushed a little, and Rose giggled. She’d liked to have seen that.

“No, not a fashion crime this time. I don’t think you’d have stood for that. Bit vain, you are.” She touched her tongue to the corner of her mouth and didn’t miss the way his eyes followed it. It sent heat shooting straight to her lower abdomen and made her heart flutter - just as it always had. “You wear a long trench coat, now, over a pinstriped suit and plimsolls.”

“Plimsolls? With a suit?!” he exclaimed.

Rose giggled. “Cheer up, Doctor. You look quite fit in it.”

He regarded her carefully, then muttered something about becoming daft in his old age that had Rose laughing again. After a moment she sobered. “But what about this you? How did you get here?”

The Doctor flushed again. “I’m here because of you, actually, best I can figure.”

Rose narrowed her eyes. “Because of me?

He nodded. “When I was regenerating, I asked to please let me - whatever I became - be what you’d need. I was trying to…” Rose noticed that he seemed to be struggling to find the right words. “I was trying to make myself into something that would be good for you.”

Rose was quiet now. Subdued. Humbled by his words. “Really?”

“Yes,” he said. “I wanted to be the kind of man that you would want.”

“Oh, Doctor.” She swiped at her eyes absently. “And the TARDIS sent you here?”

“The TARDIS or the Vortex. Yeah, seems so,” he confirmed, cheerfully. 

“But, how?”

“I don’t entirely know,” he said. “The last thing I remember, I was regenerating and the fires were all around me. I asked the TARDIS to make me what you needed, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in my flat here in this London, human.”

“You’re human?” Rose cried.

“Mostly human,” he amended. “I have a human biology, a human life. George Dixon, human being, at your service.”

She brought her hands up and lay them gently on his chest, feeling the steady, solid thump of his one heart. He covered them with his own hands and she looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. “Oh, Doctor,” she lamented, “you’re an ape, now. Like me.”

“Now stop that, Rose Tyler,” he admonished her, and she felt a little shiver when he said her name. “M’an ape now, but not exactly stupid. Got all my Time Lord knowledge right up here.” He tapped his temple. “Besides, you were never an ape. Not at all.”

“Doctor…” she whispered, her eyes wide. “I -”

“I got what I wanted, Rose,” he stopped her, wrapping his fingers around her hands still on his chest. “I’m here, and so are you.”

“But all of time and space…” 

“Are nothing without you,” he said simply.

Rose withdrew her hands and swallowed her tears. The Doctor - the _other_ Doctor - that’s what he had now. All of time and space, but not her.

This Doctor regarded her carefully. “I’m sorry you lost him. Me.”

“Me, too,” she breathed.

“What happened?”

“Daleks,” she replied in a dull tone, and she saw him stiffen. “And cybermen.”

“What? Both of them? At once? How?”

“They found a hole between the universes. The cybermen did,” she explained. “And they were coming. Torchwood was letting them in. They appeared as ghosts for a while, then all of the sudden they were more...solid.”

“And they started to take over,” he surmised. Rose nodded.

“The Daleks were hiding in the void.” The Doctor’s jaw set, but she continued. “They were in a...kind of a ship thing that wasn’t very big. They said it had Time Lord technology, and there were thousands of them in there.”

“Bigger on the inside,” he deadpanned. 

“Right. Then, he - you - figured out that everyone who had crossed the void would have this void stuff on them, and that if the doors to the universe were opened on one side, the void would suck them all in. The problem was that he - you - and I both had it all over us.”

The Doctor looked stunned. “How did you…?”

“We clung to magna-clamps attached to the wall when we opened the door and sucked them in. It it pulled so hard.” She shuddered at the memory. “One of the levers switched off, and I had to make it work again. I slipped off the lever.”

His eyes were wide and horrified. “But...the void… How?”

“Pete came back and caught me just before I fell through. He used his dimension hopper to bring me back here, with Mum and Mickey.”

“Pete saves the day again,” he said, then he touched her face with his fingertips. She lay her cheek against his hand, into his palm. “Oh, Rose,” he moaned. 

“S’alright. I just wish I knew that he - you - was okay.”

“I’m always alright, Rose.”

Rose sniffed and wiped her eyes. “S’not that…”

“You miss him.” 

She nodded. 

“Were you and he…?”

She looked confused for a second. “Were we…?” she led him.

“Together?”

“Oh.” She studied the wool of his jumper but didn’t answer.

“Did I ever get my head out of my arse and tell you what you mean to me?”

Rose blew out a watery breath that could have been a laugh. “Nothing was ever said, no. It was just like I was with you - this you, I mean - just a little...more. You - he - would hold me and touch me, and he kissed me once. In Rome. I’d thought that something may come of it, but it never did. I tried not to think about it too much. I’d come to accept a long time ago that Time Lords just don’t do...that.”

The Doctor’s face clouded and he looked thoughtful. Rose spared a thought to wonder why he looked almost angry, then went on, changing the subject. “Anyway! What do you think of being a human? Are the domestics as horrible as you always made them out to be?”

He wasn’t ready to board that train of thought, though. “Rose, I got my wish. I wanted to become someone who would...who would care about you. It sounds like I did.”

“He cared for me,” she allowed. She felt like she were about to cry again, and cursed herself. Now was not the time for misery. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, the tears spilling. 

“For what, precious girl?” He brushed her tear away. 

“I don’t know,” she said, sniffling. “You’re stuck on Earth because of me.”

“Don’t be,” the Doctor soothed her. “M’happy. It’s not what I expected for my old age, but we’ll just call it retirement. Not a bad life.” He brushed another tear away, then pulled her into his arms. “It’s better now that you’re here. Much better.”

Rose stood against him, his strong, wool-clad arms wrapped around her, feeling more secure than she had in nearly two months. She vowed to herself to never let him go.

“Let’s sit,” the Doctor said after a while, gesturing to the students’ chairs in the lecture hall. They stepped over and sat right next to each other. Rose slipped her hand back into the Doctor’s.

“I’m so glad to see you, Rose. You can’t possibly know.”

“How long have you been here?” she asked.

“Fourteen months, two weeks and a day.”

“And what about you? Is there a Mrs. Dixon?”

He laughed, a rich, hearty sound that spoke to great amusement. “No,” he told her, still chuckling. “There’s been nobody that’s struck my fancy.”

 _Good,_ Rose thought to herself. 

“I’m glad it worked,” he said after a moment. 

“Glad what worked?”

“Glad the TARDIS gave you a version of me that still cared about you. Apparently the Old Girl took me seriously when I said I wanted to be there for you. She must have known that you would end up here, without me, so she sent me here.”

“I’m so glad she did,” Rose said, her eyes watering.

“Me, too, precious girl. Me, too.”

~*~O~*~ 

They talked for well over an hour, covering everything from his human life to her new career at Torchwood, reminiscing a bit about their shared past. The Doctor was curious about their adventures together after he’d regenerated, and she told him a couple of stories: about Cassandra and the Sisters of Plenitude; about Rome and becoming a statue; and about the Wire. More than once, he had to repress a shudder over the danger she’d been in. Losing her face! He reached up and touched her cheek again when she told him about that, grateful to his older self for saving her. For saving this lovely face that brought him so much joy. 

He was surprised to learn that she’d been here during the cyberman invasion three years ago, before he had arrived. He hypothesized to himself that their trip through the void and into this world had opened the door for the cybermen to slip through to the prime universe, and, alternately, left the door open for her to come back through to this world. He couldn’t be entirely sorry for that. It meant that she was here, sitting right by him. No, he couldn’t be at all sorry for that. 

When she told him about working for Torchwood in this universe he felt himself stiffen a little. He was more than a little concerned about her out on a field mission with a team who _were_ , almost certainly, stupid apes, but he kept his concerns to himself. He couldn’t protest anything at the moment. He was just too damned happy.

He spent a lot of time just looking at her, taking her in. He’d been so starved for the sight of her that seeing her beautiful face right next to him was almost more than he could stand. He wanted to kiss her breathless...he always had, but now that he didn’t have all the restrictions and hang ups that came with being a Time Lord pulling at him, he could barely contain himself. She studied his face as well, as if looking for imperfections that would brand him counterfeit. He looked a bit different, he knew, with his hair a bit longer and the scruff of a beard, but Rose seemed to see past that. She saw _him._ She always had. It was part of what made her so magical.

Donna and Mickey came back entirely too soon, popping their little bubble of contentment. 

“Doctor?” Donna started, approaching them. “You have class in fifteen minutes.”

“Cancel it,” he replied, waving his hand in the air carelessly and looking back at Rose. “I’m busy.”

“You can’t. It’s midterm prep, and the kids need that. You can’t postpone midterms.”

Mickey spoke up. “And your mum will be going spare, Rose. You need to check in with her. She’ll want to know you’re alright, and if this is really the Doctor.”

The Doctor sighed, frustrated. “Are you two our keepers?” he asked sardonically.

Donna crossed her arms. “Can if needs must,” she answered him, a bit snarky. 

He saw Rose try to hide a grin behind her hand. He turned to Donna. “Give us a minute? Won’t be long. I’ll still teach.”

Donna looked at him, her eyebrows in a skeptical line, but he just nodded towards the door. “Go on, get. I’ll bring Rose out to your office in a minute.”

“You’d better,” Donna sniped. “C’mon Mickey.” They turned to leave again.

Rose smiled and squeezed his hand when they were gone.

“Meddlesome ginger harridan,” he complained. 

“I thought you were friends.”

“We are,” he said, grumpy. “She’s been my best friend since I landed here. Donna’s brilliant, although she doesn’t think so. But she’s a bossy thing. Made me grow out my hair and beard, she did, and she complains when I wear my leather jacket. She even took me shopping for more stylish clothes. Can you imagine? Shopping! Me, Rose!”

Rose giggled and again, the sound filled his single heart with pleasure. 

“She’s got you looking quite fit,” she said. 

“Oh, I don’t know about all that,” he demurred. 

“I do.”

 _Blimey_ , he wanted to kiss her. 

“I don’t want you to go.”

“It’s alright, Doctor. I need to take Mickey and go convince Mum and Pete that you’re actually you. She’s not likely to believe me.”

“I could help you convince them,” he volunteered before his brain caught up with him.

“Oh? How?”

“I could, I dunno, meet with them. Maybe come to dinner or something. Prove that I’m me and there’s nothing more I want in the universe than you safe and happy.”

Rose flushed a little at the statement, but she seemed pleased. “ _You_ , coming to dinner with my mum and Pete?”

“Why not?”

“You told me once that you don’t do families. Too domestic.”

“Ah, well, that was before. M'human now. Can’t run away in the TARDIS anymore, me. And if it will get your mother off our backs, I’ll be there with bells on.”

Her smile was skeptical. “You sure?”

“Won’t literally be wearing bells, of course. Not a cow, me,” he joked and was rewarded with a snicker. “But yes. You tell me when and I’ll be there.”

Rose looked at her watch. “It’s almost four, so too late for Mum to prepare for guests tonight. Tomorrow night?” She sounded hopeful. 

“I’ll be there.”

“Half six?”

“Your wish is my command, Rose Tyler,” he said, bringing their joined hands up to his lips and kissing her fingers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fifty internet points if you caught my "I Love Lucy" reference in the summary. 
> 
> This is what happens when I post while sleepy.


	8. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor goes to dinner with the Tylers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to tenroseforeverandever, who (as always) kept me from saying 'said' or using adverbs too much!

The next twenty-four hours seemed interminable to the Doctor. He spent most of the time simply thinking of Rose and daydreaming about being near her again. Once again, he was using the front of his brain to teach while the back of his mind was settled firmly on Rose. 

He’d deliberated about what to wear to dinner with the Tylers. He was going to a mansion, after all, to meet with Rose’s parents. Donna had instructed him, in no uncertain terms, to wear a shirt and tie at minimum. “No clunky boots or leather jackets for you this time, mister! You have to look the part!”

And that was true: he _did_ need to look the part. He needed to be the Doctor that Jackie remembered if he was going to convince her that’s who he was. With that in mind he bucked Donna’s suggestion and settled on his old uniform of dark trousers, boots, and his leather jacket. He grabbed a jumper at random - that’s what he’d always done - and saw that it was burgundy. While Donna was cross that he hadn’t followed her fashion advice, at least she approved of the color. She’d also forbidden him to shave his face or his head. The Doctor was more than happy to follow that recommendation. He liked the beard and longer hair, and more importantly, Rose seemed to like it too.

He was nervous - more nervous than he cared to admit. Jackie had never liked him (and, he supposed, with good reason), and the idea of having dinner with her was more than a bit daunting. Rose was an adult and could see him if she wanted, but having Jackie’s blessing would make things much easier. He knew he’d have to be on his best behavior tonight. 

Donna had suggested taking a bouquet of flowers, and he’d debated on it. In the end he decided against such a gesture - right now. He knew that while Rose appreciated that kind of thing, it would look like he was trying too hard. And Rassilon knew he was trying as hard as he could, but he didn’t want to _look_ that way. 

Finally, after Donna gave him a once-over and said “You’ll do, Spaceman,” he was ready to go. Time to face the lions...but it was worth it to see his Rose. 

~*~O~*~

At 6:25 the guard at the gatehouse took his ID and then welcomed him to the Tyler’s mansion. He directed the Doctor up the long drive toward the huge, gorgeous house. 

The Doctor parked where he’d been told then went to the door. He shook out his hands, nervous, then checked his watch. 6:28. A touch early. But Time Lord or not, he wasn’t about to wait on the porch for two minutes. And honestly, he didn’t think he could wait another second. Bouncing a bit on the balls of his feet, he rang the bell and waited for Rose to come to the door. Hearing footfalls approaching from inside, he made a few last minute adjustments to his wardrobe, straightening his jacket, smoothing his hair. In only seconds, he’d be seeing his Rose. 

But it wasn’t Rose who answered. It was a maid in a uniform, and his shoulders sagged in disappointment. 

“Dr. Dixon?”

“That’s me,” he forced his lips into a smile and a cheerful tone into his voice.

“Please come in. The Tylers are expecting you. May I take your coat?”

“No, ta. I’ll keep it for now, if that’s alright.”

The maid looked a little disapproving at his beaten leather coat, but nodded. “I’ll just go let them know you’re here. You can make yourself comfortable in the parlor, if you like.”

He hadn’t taken two steps towards the room he’d been directed to when he heard the voice he’d been dreading. 

“So it’s you, is it?”

The Doctor cringed inwardly, then turned around to gave Jackie his most winning smile. She was standing on the stairs looking almost elegant in trousers and a blouse. He was surprised: he’d honestly expected to see her in a pink velour tracksuit. “Jackie Tyler. S’good to see you.”

“You grew a beard. Rose said you did.”

“I did. D’ya like it?”

She looked him up and down, and the Doctor refrained from squirming with great effort. After a moment, she came down the rest of the stairs towards him. She brought her arm up and he braced himself for a slap, but she threw her arms around his neck instead. 

“Thank you.”

He just stood there for a moment before he returned her hug, hesitantly. “For what?”

She pulled back, and there were tears on her cheeks. “Rose has barely eaten or slept for weeks. She didn’t smile anymore, she’s barely slept, she cried all the time... She’s just been miserable. But since she saw you yesterday she’s nothing but smiles. She slept last night and has eaten three good meals.” She wiped her cheeks. “You saved my baby.”

His heart ached to think of his precious girl in such a state. “I’ll always save Rose, Jackie. You know that.”

“I do,” she agreed, surprising him a little, then wiped her other cheek. “And thank you.”

“S’my pleasure,” he told her. 

“Rose should be down in a minute. She’s getting dressed. Couldn’t decide what to wear. Can I get you a drink?”

Blimey, did he ever need a drink.

“Yes, ta.”

Jackie beckoned, and he followed her into the parlor off the foyer. She went to the cabinet and pulled out a glass, dropped some ice in it, then poured a little scotch in. Handing it to him, she said, “Have a seat.”

The Doctor found a comfortable place at the end of a sofa and enjoyed the burn of the alcohol as it slid down his throat. Jackie not being angry with him was a boon, but he was still nervous. 

“Pete will be along in a minute,” she told him. “He’s on a call.”

“No problem,” the Doctor said.

“How’d you do it?”

“How’d I do what?”

“How’d you come here? How’d you know Rose would end up here?”

“I didn’t,” he answered, taking another sip of the scotch to steel himself. “The TARDIS sent me. She knew.”

“Well, you’re an answer to prayer, you are,” she told him fondly. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me, too.”

“Doctor?”

The Doctor looked up to see Rose at the entry to the room. She wore much the same outfit she had in the photo spread he’d seen - a cream-colored jumper over a floaty skirt that fell to her knees and a pair of fawn-colored boots. He stood up to greet her and was met with an armful of pink and yellow human. 

She buried her face into his shoulder. “You came.”

“‘Course I did,” he murmured. “You asked me to.”

They held on to each other until Jackie cleared her throat. Then they pulled apart, still smiling at each other, and sat side-by-side on the sofa. Rose reached over and took his hand as soon as she was settled. Jackie eyed the gesture, but didn’t mention it.

“So you’re human now?” she asked instead.

“I am,” the Doctor assured her. “Mostly human.”

“That’s what Rose said. Human body, Time Lord brain?”

“That’s right.” 

“And you’re George Dixon now?”

“That’s me,” the Doctor said with a smile; genuine, now that he had Rose beside him with her hand nestled into his. “Hello!”

“Where’d you come up with that name?”

“I’ve used it before when I had to pretend to be human. Used it once when Rose and I went to New Vegas.”

“That was an exciting trip,” Rose volunteered. “One of our best, I think.”

“Better than Woman Wept?” He nudged her, giving her a cheeky grin. She’d really enjoyed that particular trip, he knew.

“Well, I don’t think anything is as beautiful as Women Wept,” she returned his banter, touching her tongue to the corner of her mouth. His eyes followed her tongue and left a heat curled in his belly. He forced himself to squeeze her hand to keep from snogging her, and she winked at him. 

“Mad, the both of you,” Jackie muttered, but there was no anger to her words. 

“Sorry I’m late,” he heard from the door, and shot to his feet when he saw Pete Tyler coming in the room. Pete crossed the room to greet him and shook his hand. 

“Pete Tyler,” the ginger man introduced himself, shaking the Doctor’s hand. 

The Doctor knew exactly who Pete was, but this Pete wouldn’t know that. “I’m the Doctor.” He corrected himself, giving his human name. “Well, officially I’m Doctor George Dixon,” the Doctor amended. 

“Shall I call you George?”

“I prefer ‘Doctor’, if you don’t mind.”

“Not a problem.” Pete released his hand and went to sit by Jackie, slipping his arm around her. The Doctor sat down and reclaimed Rose’s hand and just like Jackie, Pete gave them a look but didn’t say anything.

“You look quite different,” Pete said, appraising him. “Rose warned me you would, but I have to admit, it’s bizarre.”

“I can imagine it must be confusing,” he admitted. “You met me in the body I regenerated into after this one.” 

“Yes, I did.”

“But I’ve met you. The other you, Rose’s natural father. Saved the world, you did.”

“So Rose told me. I’m not sure I’m quite so brave as my counterpart was.”

Jackie patted his leg. “Sure you are, sweetheart. All that runnin’ around you do with Torchwood.”

“Well, that’s a bit different, love. I’m not really in the field like our Rose.” 

The Doctor stiffened a bit. He didn’t like to think about Rose working with Torchwood, particularly on a field team. 

Pete continued, oblivious, “I also hear that you witnessed our wedding, on the other Earth?”

“We did,” Rose said. “That was _this_ Doctor.”

“Yes, t’was me,” the Doctor acknowledged. 

“So what do you do, Doctor, if you’re not saving the world from alien threats anymore? Rose mentioned that you’re a professor.”

“I am. I teach astronomy and physics. I know the source material well, and the TARDIS provided me with doctorates in astrophysics, engineering, linguistics, and physics. But I’ve never attended traditional uni here. Only the Time Lord Academy, me. I _did_ get my MD in our original universe.”

Pete looked impressed. “Rose said you were a genius, but I wasn’t expecting five doctorates.”

The Doctor was chuffed. Impressing Rose’s stepfather could only be a good thing. 

“He’s brilliant,” Rose hummed, looking up at him. He thought he may burst with pride.

The maid who had answered the door for him came to the entrance of the room. “Sorry to interrupt, Mr. and Mrs. Tyler. Dinner is served.” 

“Thank you, Diana,” Pete nodded, getting to his feet. 

The rest of the room followed suit. When Rose placed her palm against his and curled her fingers around his hand, the Doctor decided domestics weren’t so bad, as long as they were together. 

~*~O~*~

Dinner was a lovely affair; the Tyler’s cook was obviously very talented. In addition to soup and salad, there was roast pork, garlic potatoes, and asparagus tips, as well as Bananas Foster for dessert. The Doctor gave Rose a smile; he had a feeling he knew where _that_ suggestion had come from. 

Pete and Jackie didn’t ask too many probing questions, and he grew gradually more comfortable as the night went on. They talked a bit about Rose’s adventures with this Doctor, and Jackie still couldn’t seem to say ‘slitheen’ correctly. He chuckled, but didn’t correct her. 

Jackie told the story of Rose’s missing year, the time that he’d brought her home twelve months late. He felt his ears get hot at the memory. She seemed to have recovered from the incident and he was relieved, although he was a bit amused and cowed when Pete gave him a stern look and said that he certainly hoped the Doctor wouldn’t keep Rose away so long again. 

The Doctor didn’t answer, he just nodded. If it were up to him, though, he’d keep Rose with him for the rest of his natural life. 

Finally dinner was done and they retired to the lounge. Rose took her seat with the Doctor and, once again, slipped her small hand into his. 

“I suppose we’ll be seeing a lot of you,” Pete commented, swirling brandy in his snifter. 

“That’s up to Rose,” he replied, looking down at the girl in question. 

“I hope so.” She beamed at him, her tongue making another appearance at the corner of her mouth. He felt the familiar twinge in his gut. 

“Well,” Jackie announced, slapping her hands on her legs. “I think it’s time for bed.” The Doctor was puzzled. It was only eight. He hadn’t pegged Jackie to be such an early-to-bed type.

Jackie looked at her daughter. “Rose?”

“I’m going to stay with the Doctor for a while,” she declared. 

Jackie gave Rose an assessing look, then nodded. They stood and Jackie walked over to kiss her cheek, telling her goodnight. She shocked the Doctor when she also kissed his cheek, the same cheek she’d slapped so long ago. “Not sure what I think of the beard, but I’m glad you’re back.”

“Me too, Jackie. Thank you for a lovely dinner.”

“T’was my pleasure.” She patted his cheek. “Rose, don’t stay up too late, you have work in the morning.”

“I won’t, Mum.”

Pete came just behind Jackie and kissed Rose’s cheek, telling her goodnight, and offered the Doctor his hand. “Doctor, it was a pleasure to meet you. _This_ you.”

The Doctor smiled in understanding, shaking Pete’s hand. “Pleasure is all mine.”

Pete stepped away, slipping his arm around Jackie’s shoulders and leading her out of the room. 

Rose turned to the Doctor and smiled. “Looks like I get you to myself for a bit.”

He gave her a goofy grin. “Looks like.”

They resumed their places on the couch and Rose raised his hand, pulling it over her head so that his arm went around her, then nestled into his side. He sighed contentedly.

“I missed you,” she whispered. “This you.”

“I missed you, too, precious girl. But maybe you should get to bed. Your mum says you haven’t been taking care of yourself. Not sleeping or eating.”

He could almost feel the roll of her eyes. “Mum worries too much.”

“So you’re saying you _have_ been taking care of yourself?”

Her smile slid off her face, replaced by downturn lips and averted eyes. “Not like I should,” she admitted. “Losing him - you - well, it hit me pretty hard. I was heartbroken.”

“How’s your heart now?” he probed, hope roiling within him. 

She looked up at him, lips pressed together. “Bit better now. I’m still sad, but you’ve made it better.”

He kissed the top of her head, unable to stop himself from taking a deep breath of her heavenly scent, the smell he’d missed so much. “Good.”

“I miss him. Is that alright?”

He felt a pang of jealousy - for himself! - but tamped it down. “I wouldn’t expect any different.” 

He watched her for a second, noting her forlorn expression before she changed the subject with a smile. “So, what do you want to do?”

 _Dangerous question, that,_ he thought. 

“M’happy right here.” 

“Me, too.”

She beamed at him, then lay her head back down on his shoulder. “I could turn on the telly if you want. Like old times.”

“Might be nice,” he shrugged. “S’up to you.

“Can you stay for a while?”

“As long as you like, Rose Tyler. I’m with you for as long as you like.”

Rose mentioned a movie that she wanted to see and the Doctor readily agreed. He was amenable to anything she wanted, frankly. She grabbed the remote and nestled back into him, selecting a film from Netflix and resuming their position. The Doctor settled back into the couch in a deep state of contentment. 

She yawned when the movie ended, then yawned again immediately after.

“Alright, you. Bedtime for little apes.”

“Oi! It’s early yet. Only ten o’clock.”

“But you’re tired,” he pointed out. “You should sleep.”

“I don’t want you to go,” she echoed his words from the day before. He kissed her hair again. 

“You’ll see me again.”

“I’d like…” she hesitated, and he was charmed by the pink that appeared on her cheeks. “I’d like to see you again soon.”

“Me, too,” he agreed, hoping she couldn’t feel his heart dancing for joy in his chest. 

“When?” she asked. “You have midterms coming up, don’t you?”

“I do, but they won't be hard to navigate. We can get together pretty much whenever you like. Dinner?”

“That would be lovely. When?”

“When would you like?”

“Tomorrow,” she said, her voice certain. He laughed.

“I have class tomorrow evening. Why don’t you come to mine the day _after_ tomorrow, and I’ll cook for you?” 

She quirked an eyebrow and one corner of her mouth. “You? Cook?”

“I’ll have you know I’m quite a good cook,” he feigned offense. “All bachelors are.”

“This I _have_ to see,” she teased, biting her tongue again. “Doctor Domestic.”

“Oi, now,” he warned with a smile, and she laughed. His voice dropped. “I’d like to see you as often as you’ll let me.”

“I’d like that, too.” Rose flushed, then yawned again. 

“But for now, you need to get to bed.”

“Yes, Doctor,” she affected a sigh of exasperation. “Can I walk you to the door?”

“How chivalrous, Rose Tyler,” he grinned. “Lead the way, m’lady.”

They walked slowly to the door, holding hands the whole way, neither of them wanting the night to end. When they arrived at the entrance to the house Rose turned to him and reached for his free hand so that both of her hands were held loosely in both of his. 

“Friday, then?” she asked. 

“Yep,” he confirmed. “I’ll make hot dogs and mac and cheese.”

She laughed at him, just as he’d hoped, and he felt the goofy grin spread all over his face.

“I’ll see you then,” she assured him. 

_Kiss her_ , his mind prodded again, _kiss her now._

He cupped her face in his hands and heard her breath catch. At the last moment, he detoured and pressed his lips to her forehead, lingering longer than he probably needed to. 

“Goodnight, Rose.”

“Goodnight, Doctor.”


	9. New History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose takes tentative steps towards moving on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a long note at the end of this chapter, if you care to read. 
> 
> Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to every one of you who is reading/commenting/leaving kudos on this fic. I love this story and knowing that other people do, too, is a joy I can't describe. I appreciate you to the ends of the earth. 
> 
> Beta'd (as always) by tenroseforeverandever, who is the absolute best beta in all of time and space. Without her, this fic would have a lot more adverbs and 'said's. Thank you so much, sweetie.
> 
> Enjoy!

_We could touch wires and see sparks in our eyes when you're close to me_  
_When you're not around it doesn't put out our kind of chemistry_  
_But nothing's easier than a habit that you know you should break_  
_How long can this wait?_  
_I don't, I don't know if I'm ready for new history, baby_  
_Oh but it feels right_  
_There's a road that we're taking... should we really be making a new history?_  
~ [New History](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr1Zbi9t3O0)

~*~O~*~

[Rose] 23/10/10 - 9:43am: _Hi, Doctor. It’s Rose_  
[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 10:01am: _How’d you get my number?_  
[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 10:01am: _not that I’m upset or anything, I meant to give it to you but forgot_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 10:14am: _I forgot, too_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 10:15am: _I work for Torchwood now, I looked it up there_  
[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 10:17am: _dangerous, you are_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 10:22am: _sorry_  
[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 10:28am: _I’m not cross. Was just curious. never had to worry about phones before_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 10:33am: _good :)_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 11:01am: _looking forward to tomorrow night. :)_  
[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 12:05pm: _Sorry, was in class. I am, too. Need to go shopping, me_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 12:32pm: _Oh no, not the dreaded shopping! ;)_  
[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 12:44pm: _It’s a necessary evil_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 1:46pm: _can I bring anything?_  
[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 2:03pm: _just yourself_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 2:15pm: _I think I can do that_  
[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 2:32pm: _good_

~*~O~*~

[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 7:23pm: _at the grocery store. What sounds good?_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 7:24pm: _what? no hot dogs and mac and cheese?_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 7:24pm: _I dunno. surprise me_  
[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 7:28pm: _if you want hot dogs and mac & cheese, that’s what we’ll do. Whatever you want._  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 7:30pm: _I’m just teasing_  
[Doctor] 23/10/10 - 7:31pm: _I figured as much. italian?_  
[Rose] 23/10/10 - 7:33pm: _sounds lovely :)_

~*~O~*~

[Rose] 24/10/10 - 12:38pm: _Micks is going to drop me off after work, around 6 alright?_  
[Doctor] 24/10/10 - 12:41pm: _sounds perfect. dinner might not be quite ready, though. I don’t get home until 5 or 5:30_  
[Rose] 24/10/10 - 12:44pm: _that’s fine. I’ll help if you like_  
[Doctor] 24/10/10 - 12:46pm _: less impressive if you help me_  
[Rose] 24/10/10 - 12:50pm: _don’t need to impress me, Doctor. I know you already_  
[Rose] 24/10/10 - 12:51pm: _can you take me home, or do you want Mickey to pick me up?_  
[Doctor] 24/10/10 - 12:55pm: _I’ll be glad to take you home_  
[Rose] 24/10/10 - 1:03pm: _thank you._  
[Rose] 24/10/10 - 1:04pm: _I’ll see you in a little while then_  
[Doctor] 24/10/10 - 1:46pm: _looking forward to it_

~*~O~*~

Donna had talked him out of wearing his usual kit this evening. Well, partially. He was still wearing one of his favorite jumpers - blue this time - but she’d convinced him to wear jeans instead. 

He looked up at the clock on the microwave. 5:43. She would be here soon and as he’d thought, dinner wasn’t ready. Probably wouldn’t be for a while. That was alright, though. No matter what he’d said, the thought of he and Rose working together in the kitchen was more than a little appealing. The two of them had often cooked together on the TARDIS, working together to prepare meals. She would tease him about his lack of skill, and he’d huff at her. Tonight, she would be here and it could be like old times. The thought made him want to slow down in his preparations. No matter what he’d told her, he’d very much like it if she helped and made the place feel more like home.

If the Doctor were honest with himself he’d been in love with Rose Tyler for the better part of two years. He hadn’t _known_ he was in love with her until it tripped and fell out of his mouth at Downing Street. The truth of it had hit him with a force he was completely unprepared for. He’d been a fool for her, a merry, grinning fool, and the only thing he regretted was not telling her how much she meant to him. He’d been fairly certain that she cared for him… Maybe not as much as _he_ loved _her_ (how could she ever love him as much as he loved her?) but there was _something_ there, he was sure of it. Jack had remarked on it all the time.

But now she had spent an entire year in the company of the man he became, and he had no knowledge of what had happened in that time. According to Rose, nothing of a romantic nature had taken place, save for one quick kiss, and they’d just carried on as they had before. She’d also told him that his tenth incarnation had been pretty.

Insecurities racked him. What if she preferred the him she left behind to...well...him? He had a couple of distinct advantages over the older version of himself, though. First, he was here and the other him was not. But best of all, he was human this time.

He’d always loved humans, which was a large part of why Earth was his favorite planet. Humans had funny little lives full of love and war, anger and peace, and the complete freedom (and even encouragement) to express those feelings that had been so taboo to the Time Lords. Now here he was, and he’d been granted the same freedom he’d always envied. He was free, after so long, to love Rose Tyler the way he’d always wanted. 

But would she want him to? What if she'd been swept up by the novelty of his frankly magnificent time ship and only cared about him because he _wasn't_ human? What if she’d only wanted him because he was a Time Lord and, by nature, impressive? Rassilon knew she preferred the pretty boys, but still...there was that glimmer of hope...that _something_ that he’d always felt, that Jack had always commented on…

It was enough to give him hope. And to stiffen his resolve to impress her as him, the Doctor, the _human_ Doctor.

The Doctor shook himself from his ruminations and dove back into making dinner for him and Rose. 

Had an entire evening with Rose tonight, him. They’d be alone, and there was no pressure to run out and save the world. He didn’t want to blow it. He wanted her to be delighted with his presence and eager to see him again.

His phone dinged and he wiped some of the flour off of his hands to pick it up.

[Donna] 24/10/10 - 5:48pm: _she there yet?_

The Doctor rolled his eyes and tapped out a message. He was _not_ going to be giving Donna a play-by-play of his date with Rose. 

Was this a date? He wasn’t sure. God knows he wanted it to be. Maybe she-

A knock came at the door, and he recognized the cadence, even after well over a year. _Rose._

He nervously wiped his hands clean on the tea towel and went to open the door. 

Rose stood there with Mickey the Idiot, who was trying to look tough. The Doctor only spared the boy a glance, though, before looking at Rose. She was beaming and despite his mild annoyance with her ex-boyfriend’s presence, he couldn’t help but return her grin.

“Rose,” he said, then immediately felt stupid. What was it about this girl that flustered him so?

“Hi.” She bit her lip. 

“Come in,” he offered, stepping back from the door. She stepped inside, but Mickey didn’t. _Thank Rassilon._

“Thanks, but I think I’ll go.” He gave the Doctor a meaningful look. “Doctor, are you taking Rose home?”

“Absolutely,” he assured Mickey, offering his hand. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Bye, Babe.” The Doctor tried really hard not to let that grate on his nerves.

Rose raised her hand in farewell. “Bye, Micks.”

The Doctor closed the door when Mickey turned away, then turned around to Rose. The two came together in a hug.

“S’good to see you, Rose,” he blurted. She hummed through a smile in response. 

“Dinner is in the works,” he told her, stepping away. “You can make yourself at home. Or you can come keep me company, if you like?”

“I think I’ll keep you company if that’s alright.” 

“Fantastic,” he beamed. “Kitchen’s this way.”

Rose followed him into the kitchen and had a seat at his table. He went back to breading the chicken.

“Whatcha making?” 

“Chicken parmesan. Figured it was impressive enough to be starting out with.” He shot her a grin, which she returned.

“Sounds brilliant.” 

They chatted pleasantly while he finished, and he demurred when she offered to help. He thought it was probably out of self-defense. He had reconsidered allowing her to help him in the kitchen: if she were to help him, he would lose his opportunity to impress her. But more importantly he may never want her to leave. 

Finally, he dished up their dinner and brought it to her at the table. “S’nothing fancy…” he started.

“It’s brilliant, Doctor,” she told him, cutting off a little piece. Her eyes widened as she chewed. “It’s delicious!”

He felt his chest swell with pride. “Glad you like it.”

They ate for a few minutes, not talking, and the Doctor's thoughts turned churlish as the awkward silence fed his insecurities. 

"You had Mickey drive you over..."

Rose blinked at him, as if unsure what he was getting at. "Yeah, I did. "He's been a good friend."

The Doctor, glanced down, contrite. "Sorry, Rose. I just meant, I was curious... why didn't you drive yourself?"

Rose swallowed her bite of food and pushed her nearly-empty plate away. “Don’t have a car, for one thing. But I don’t have a car because I can’t drive.”

He looked at her and all thoughts of the Idiot swept away with the new information. “You can’t drive? I didn’t know that.”

She shook her head. “There was never any need,” she said. “I lived in London all my life. Could take the bus or a cab or the tube anywhere I wanted to go.”

The Doctor looked at her appraisingly. “What if I teach you?”

“To drive?”

“Yeah. It's a valuable skill to have.”

“You drive?”

He pretended to be insulted. “Of course I drive, Rose Tyler! Drove to your parents’ house, didn’t I?”

Rose made a show of slapping her forehead. “I forgot.”

The Doctor went on. “Fantastic driver, me. Been driving a few centuries. In fact, I helped Henry Ford with some design flaws when he was making prototype cars until he came to the Model T.”

Her tongue made an appearance, and he willed his chest to stop fluttering. “You think you’re so impressive.”

He fought to keep any sexual undertone out of his words. This new human body seemed much, much more randy than his fully Time Lord counterpart had been, and he was going to have to keep a check on himself, he knew. So he discarded any innuendo that may have laced his words and reached for mock outrage instead. “I am so impressive!”

“Alright, then, Mr. Impressive. When do we start?”

The Doctor thought for a second. “How about tonight, when I take you home? Shops will be closed, we can practice in a parking lot. It’ll be dark, but you’re clever. I think you’ll be alright.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

~*~O~*~

She offered to help with the dishes and wouldn’t take no for an answer. They worked side-by-side and the Doctor knew he should have bristled at the domesticity of it, but he couldn’t bring himself to mind. 

After they finished, he led her into his lounge, each with a glass of wine, and settled down on the couch to watch a film. Rose claimed her spot, nuzzled into him, and he draped his arm around her in a gesture that seemed lazy but was anything but. He cupped her elbow and stroked it with his thumb, cradling her close. 

He’d picked a screwball comedy and they both laughed all through it. When it was over, they didn’t make any effort to change their positions. He simply held her and thanked his lucky stars. 

“Feels like old times,” she remarked.

“Hmm. It does.”

“S’nice.”

“That it is.”

“Have you always been such a good cook? I never saw this kind of skill on the TARDIS.” Her tongue appeared at the corner of her smile and he tried to tamp down the curling in his lower abdomen that created.

“Not really. Had to learn if I was going to feed myself.”

“Well you obviously learned very well. That was brilliant.”

“Thank you, Rose.”

They settled back into silence as Netflix went to its default screen. He hadn’t felt so content in over a year, not since the last time he’d held her like this, on the TARDIS, and he reveled in it. In her. He couldn’t stop his fingers from threading through her hair and idly playing with it. 

Rose’s breathing slowed, and he realized she was drifting off to sleep. He squeezed her gently.

“Rose?” 

She murmured something sleepily and he tried again. “Wha?”

“You fell asleep. C’mon, I’ll take you home.”

“Don’t want to go,” she told him, snuggling deeper into his side. 

“I don’t want you to go, either, but I think you should get some rest.”

“I can sleep here.”

She had no idea how tempting that was. 

“C’mon, Rose. Let me take you home. We can go driving tomorrow.”

She finally sat up and looked at him closely. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

Rose sighed. “Alright. Let’s go.”

~*~O~*~

On Saturday afternoon the guard at the gate waved the Doctor in as soon as he was recognized and he drove up the long drive to where Rose was waiting on the porch for him. He was there at the exact time he’d promised, but she had apparently been waiting. She hopped into his passenger seat with a bright smile. 

“Hi,” she said. Her smile was so bright, and his insides twisted. 

“Hi,” he smiled back. “Ready to go?”

“You bet.”

They drove away.

The Doctor took Rose out of the city to a deserted country road to practice driving. She’d proven to be a quick learner, mastering the basics of operating the car quickly. She told him that she’d studied a manual that morning to learn traffic rules and regulations in preparation. 

His clever Rose.

After a couple of hours he let her drive him back to Pete’s mansion. She parked beside the garage and the two of them got out of the car. He walked around to the driver’s side and hugged her tight. 

“You’re so brilliant, Rose.”

She flushed, but said thank you. Then, “Stay for dinner?”

The Doctor felt his mouth hanging open while he tried to think of something to say. He paused when he saw Rose struggling to find words herself, wringing her hands and looking away from him at nothing in particular.

“It’s just that...see...Mum and Pete have gone out for the evening, to celebrate being back together for two months. And...well…” She bit her lip and didn’t finish, but the Doctor understood. Jackie and Pete being reunited had happened at the same time she fell through the void. It wasn’t such a happy occasion for her. 

“I’ll stay,” he said. “I’ll stay as long as you need, Rose.”

Her face cleared and she smiled up at him. “Best watch yourself. I may never let you leave.”

He felt his insides twisting again - it was becoming a familiar sensation. “I hope not.”

She touched her tongue to the corner of her mouth. “What’d you say to chips?”

“You want to go out?”

“Sure! Or we could bring it back here and lounge on the couch with a film.”

The Doctor thought he was rather in danger of becoming a couch potato if he kept this up. He didn’t much care. 

“Sounds brilliant.”

~*~O~*~

Hours later, when Pete and Jackie came in, he sat in their lounge with a sleeping Rose on his lap.

“Doctor?” Jackie asked, and he could hear the prickle of alarm in her voice. “What’s wrong with Rose?”

He put his finger to his lips to indicate she should lower her voice, then stage whispered. “Nothin’s wrong. She just fell asleep while I was readin' to her. I remembered you said she hadn’t been sleeping well, and didn’t want to wake her. Didn’t want to leave her sleeping here, and I wasn’t sure where her room was. So I stayed.”

“Top of the stairs, second door to the left,” Pete said, a bit short.

The Doctor nodded and shifted Rose until he had her in a bridal carry, then started up the stairs. He took her into the bedroom he’d been directed to, laying her down and kissing her forehead after he covered her. He allowed himself a second to watch her sleep then left, closing the door behind him.

Pete was waiting for him at the bottom of the steps. 

“Thank you for being so considerate of Rose,” he said. 

The Doctor nodded. “I know you don’t know me well, but Rose is always my priority.”

“That so?” Pete quirked an eyebrow.

“Always,” the Doctor responded, a bit of anger swirling in his eyes. His devotion to Rose was unquestionable, and he didn’t appreciate this newcomer challenging him about it. 

“Are you pulling my daughter?”

It sprung to the Doctor’s lips to point out to Pete that Rose wasn’t _actually his_ daughter, first of all, and second of all, he wasn’t ‘pulling’ anyone. He shook his head, though, remembering that picking a fight with Rose’s stepfather was a very bad idea.

“Just picking up where we left off. Rose and I were exactly like this on the TARDIS. Nothing has changed. We’re just reunited.”

“Are you dating her?”

“That’s entirely up to Rose. I just know I want to see her as much as she’ll let me.”

Pete nodded in understanding of what the Doctor didn’t say. 

~*~O~*~

Rose didn’t see him Sunday, and the handful of texts they’d exchanged seemed like nothing more than a tease. She wanted to see him, and soon, and the only thing holding her back from trying to see him that day was her desire to avoid the appearance of being...well…smitten. _Overly_ smitten, that is. She knew she was well beyond anything so trite as merely _‘smitten’_. But, in the end, she decided it was probably better if she didn’t see him because her thoughts were a jumble and she needed time to think.

This Doctor and her pinstriped one were the same man. She was convinced of that. There was no doubt in her mind. The Doctor that was here with her, the Doctor that held her so closely and in such a comfortable embrace, was the same Doctor that she’d left behind. His arms may have felt a bit different than what she had gotten used to after his regeneration, but they were familiar. Her soul recognized his and reveled in it. Being with him felt...it felt like… _home._ Every moment she spent with this Doctor felt wonderful, like mentally and emotionally slipping into a warm bath after a long day. She wanted to be with him and she didn’t doubt that he felt the same. 

But she couldn’t forget the Doctor she had left behind when she fell through the void. His warm brown eyes still haunted her dreams. What would he have to say about all of this? He’d want her to be happy, she knew that much. Her mum was right, he wouldn’t have wanted her to waste away in misery. But could he ever be happy that she’d taken up a new life with the old him?

Rose had history with both men, but now she had the opportunity to make a new life, new memories, a new history. Was she ready for that? Was she ready to move on and away from the memories she’d made with the pinstriped Doctor, to accept that he was her past and _this_ Doctor was her future? Was she ready to stay?

She’d had fleeting thoughts of staying here before she found the Doctor, of making a go at a life here on this Earth, alone. She had asked herself over and over; _What if he never comes back for me? What if I'm never able to make it back to him?_ She still wondered about that. 

But now she wondered something else: what would happen if he _did_ come back and found her happy and secure in _this_ Doctor’s arms? 

She was beginning to lose faith that he’d ever return for her, and the pandimensional cannon was still just a controversial concept, at best. 

Meanwhile she had _this_ Doctor, this _human_ Doctor. He was here, and he wanted to be with her. 

Thoughts chased themselves around in her mind and there were many tears and a thrown pillow or two. She’d just gotten herself under some form of control when her phone went off. She reached for it and unlocked it. 

[Doctor] 26/10/10 - 8:37pm: _thinking of you_

She let a few more tears fall and cursed herself for them. She couldn’t go back to her old world and it had been two months since she’d been stranded here. Her hopes were fading. He would have come by now, surely he would have. She couldn’t have her old life back, traveling the stars with her pinstriped alien. But she could have _this_ life with _this_ man. Stuck with him, that wasn’t so bad. It was the next best thing. New history.

Rose sniffed one last time, then straightened her shoulders. If this Doctor wanted her - and she was sure he did - she was going to act on her own desires and be with him. 

She picked up her phone and tapped out a message to him.

[Rose] 26/10/10 - 8:48pm: _miss you, too. when can we get together again?_  
[Doctor] 26/10/10 - 8:51pm: _anytime you want. I have class on Thursday evenings. Beyond that, I’m all yours_  
[Rose] 26/10/10 - 8:53pm: _dinner at yours Tuesday night?_  
[Doctor] 26/10/10 - 8:55pm: _sounds perfect. I’ll see you then._  
[Doctor] 26/10/10 - 8:56pm: _sleep well, Rose_  
[Rose] 26/10/10 - 8:58pm: _goodnight, Doctor_

This Doctor was here. He cared about her, and she cared about him. He made her happy. She’d be a fool not to grab that kind of happiness with both hands. 

Rose Tyler was no fool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry in advance for the long note...I didn't sleep last night and tend to get verbose when I'm tired. 
> 
> ~First, I want to take a minute and thank each and every one of you who are following this fic. (I know I already said this in the first note, but it bears repeating). Your kudos and comments have driven me. Now I'm two chapters away from finishing this story, and I anticipate finishing it this week.
> 
> ~This story has truly been a labor of love for me, and I mean that in the best possible way. I have loved writing every word of this. The idea for this fic popped into my head nearly a year ago, and I've been champing at the bit to write it ever since. This is not something you'll hear me say often, but I'm proud of this one. 
> 
> ~That said: me, this chapter, and tenroseforeverandever went ten rounds. I'm still not 100% content with it, and I don't think tenroseforeverandever is, either. I was still editing even after I posted...including editing this note. It's not A+ material, but working together, I think tenroseforeverandever and I got it to a B- level. I'll take it. 
> 
> ~Finally, there was some mention about the title a couple of chapters back in the comments. I went round and round about the title of this fic for weeks: I had lots of titles in mind, but it came down to "The Next Best Thing" or "New History". Both held their own appeal and both worked for the story, but in different ways. I asked for advice, I wrote them out and stared at them, and in the end I practically flipped a coin. I wasn't sure what I was going to pick even as I was posting the first two chapters of this story. It's known behind the scenes as neither one, but as 'Alt9'.
> 
> Maybe I should have picked New History, I don't know. But I can tell you that both titles would have been appropriate, and both are incorporated into this chapter. Both thread their way throughout the rest of the story. If you still don't like the title I chose (and I understand that some people don't, which is valid and I totally get the complaint), I would ask you to please be patient and let events unfold. Hopefully you'll see why, in the end, I chose what I did.


	10. Working Out the Kinks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and the Doctor discuss a couple of obstacles to their relationship.

Rose strode into Torchwood on Friday morning in high spirits. Her physical training would be coming to a close soon: she’d nearly mastered every skill she’d been asked to learn. Mickey and Jake were pleased with her progress - as was Pete - and they told her she’d be ready to officially join the ops team fairly soon. 

The pandimensional cannon was progressing...slowly. Glacially slow, and only in theory. No prototype had been built, or was planned in the near future. Dr. Fine still had major reservations about it, but Rose believed that it could work. 

The atmosphere towards Rose in general around Torchwood had improved. The side-eye she’d been getting at first had dwindled to the occasional curious look, and she’d even started having a few pleasant, non-work related conversations with colleagues. She had to be particularly careful about what she said to avoid revealing that she was from a parallel universe, but she found herself enjoying and even looking forward to the times she talked to other Torchwood agents. 

Pete was proud of her, and she was glad to be pleasing him after he’d been so generous to her and her mum. 

The Doctor was supposed to pick her up from work at five on his way home from the university. Mickey (who was adapting to the idea of Rose dating the Doctor rather well, she thought) had let her leave the shooting range a bit early so that she could take a few extra minutes to get ready for her “date”. She’d brought a change of clothes and her makeup with her to work that day in a duffel bag. 

Rose primped in the mirror at the end of the day, applying her makeup carefully, still worried about her appearance despite her Mum’s assertion that it was ‘just the Doctor’ she was dressing up for. Rose didn’t feel like he was ‘just’ anything, and made sure to let her mum know.

Jackie had been surprisingly easygoing about - and even supportive of - her fledgling relationship with the Doctor. She hadn’t complained about Rose coming home late on Tuesday, and hadn’t batted an eye when she found them cuddled up together in the lounge on Wednesday. Pete, however, had had some concerns. He’d cornered Rose and asked her what her relationship status with the Doctor was. Rose had been flustered and hadn’t known what to say, finally settling on telling him that she wasn’t sure, but she was happy about it and had no intentions of stopping seeing him. 

Pete had opened his mouth to argue, but Jackie stepped in, telling him, “Oh, shut it, Pete. The girl is happy. I know the Doctor, and Rose is safe as houses with him.” She’d walked off then, throwing up her hands as she went and muttering, “Cor, you’d have been in a right state when she ran away with him.”

Rose was amused by and grateful for her mother’s meddling - this time. 

The Doctor had taken her driving nearly every time they’d been together, and he’d told her that she’d likely be able to drive on her own before long. She already had a license legally (it had been part of the new paperwork that Pete had issued her from Torchwood) but she wanted to really feel comfortable behind the wheel before she started driving herself. The Doctor had helped her learn the basics on less populated roads, and had promised to let her practice on the city streets soon, as well.

He was after her to take her to dinner somewhere, but Rose was hesitant. She’d had a taste of the paparazzi, and didn’t want to expose him to that. She knew, however, that the time was coming when they’d have to face that reality if they were going to keep seeing each other. 

For now, he was picking her up from Torchwood for takeaway and a sci-fi film at his flat. They’d agreed that it would be great fun to watch and poke fun at the inaccuracies that were bound to occur. Maybe, if she was lucky, he’d read to her after.

Rose looked down at herself, then back at her reflection in the locker room mirror. She’d picked out a leggings-and-sweater combo for the evening and the sweater was a burgundy cable knit that reminded her of one of her favorites of the Doctor’s jumpers. She pinned most of her hair back, leaving a few wisps to frame her face. On her feet were a little pair of ballet flats that perfectly matched the cable knit of her sweater. Her TARDIS key hung on its chain under the sweater, and she wore her usual silver hoops for earrings. 

Finally, after a couple of minutes of staring at herself for imperfections, Rose pulled out the lippy, applying it carefully. When she was done, she gave her reflection one final once-over and nodded in approval. She wouldn’t have time to make any corrections, anyway. The Doctor was due to arrive in five minutes. Zipping her duffel bag closed, she made her way to the lobby to meet him. 

He wasn’t there when she arrived. Rose checked her phone and saw a text from him. 

[Doctor] 30/10/10 - 4:52pm: _running a bit late. traffic. be there soon_

She smiled to herself and re-pocketed her phone after checking the time. He was two minutes late. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder and began to wait. He wouldn’t be long, she knew. 

“Well, if it isn’t Miss Tyler!”

Rose turned her head to find the source of the voice, and was less than pleased when she spotted Kevin Adams coming towards her with a huge smile on his face. 

“Hullo, Adams,” she said politely.

“Now, now,” he mock-scolded. “I asked you to call me ‘Kevin’.”

“Alright, hullo, Kevin,” she amended. 

“That’s better,” he patronized, his voice condescending and oily. She curled her lip. As if she needed his approval for anything.

Kevin stopped in front of her, entirely too close for Rose’s comfort. She crossed her arms over her belly in a protective gesture. 

“Waiting for someone?” he asked with a smarmy grin.

“Yes.”

“Your bloke?”

Rose wasn’t sure what to say to that. She and the Doctor hadn’t discussed anything about their actual status. She knew what _she_ wanted, but she wasn’t sure what _he_ would think or want - although she had hopes. 

“I don’t-”

“Ah, so you don’t have a bloke, then.” Kevin gave her another lascivious smile. “That’s good to know.”

“He’s running a bit late, but he should be here any minute,” Rose said, refusing to confirm or deny that she had a boyfriend, and her irritation was welling up within her. 

“I don’t think it’s very polite to keep the lady waiting,” he chided, still grinning. There was a predatory edge to his expression that Rose didn’t like one bit. “You sure he hasn’t stood you up?”

“Yes,” Rose said with conviction. “No need to worry about -”

“Rose!” 

She looked up to see the Doctor coming across the lobby in his long, loping strides. She felt her heart trip over itself at the sight of him, the way it always did when he was near.

“This bloke?” Kevin asked with a note of incredulity when the Doctor was still well away from them. 

“Yeah,” Rose challenged. “That’s him.”

“You could do better than that,” he scoffed, and Rose bristled. 

The Doctor made it over to her before she could say anything and Rose grabbed his arm, tugging him down and standing on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. _Take that, Kevin,_ she thought. She could tell the Doctor was surprised, but he didn’t draw attention to her actions, even when she wiped the lip print off his cheek with her thumb. 

“Sorry I’m late,” he offered, taking her duffel bag from her shoulder and hanging it on his own. “Bloody traffic. Starting to have second thoughts about taking you out for a drive in the city today, me.”

“That’s alright,” Rose beamed up at him with a reassuring grin. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, Doctor.” She settled her hand into the crook of his arm and he gave her one of his soft, genuine smiles. 

“Doctor?” Kevin asked aloud. Rose had all but forgotten he was there. 

“That’s right,” the Doctor affirmed, and Rose watched his eyes sweeping up and down the ginger man, sizing him up.

“Medical doctor?”

“Among other things. I teach at the university. Doctor George Dixon.” He offered his hand, and Kevin took it.

“Kevin Adams. I work with our Rose, here.”

Rose felt the Doctor’s arm stiffen under the leather her hand was resting on. 

He cocked an eyebrow at the ginger man. “Oh, she’s yours, is she?” 

Kevin just smirked, and it was a challenge of its own. “Well,” he needled, dropping the Doctor’s hand. “Not yet.”

The Doctor snorted.

“How about you? Friend of Rose’s, I assume?”

“Something like that,” the Doctor declared in a low voice, putting his arm around her. Rose could see the Oncoming Storm in his eyes. 

Kevin huffed a condescending laugh, and Rose could feel the Doctor’s entire body tense even more. She interrupted him before he could say anything confrontational. 

“Doctor? Shouldn’t we be going?”

He softened a little when he turned to look at her. “Your wish is my command. Nice to meet you, Calvin.”

“Kevin,” the other man bit out. 

“That’s right,” the Doctor said, sporting his goofiest grin. He tugged lightly on Rose’s shoulders to lead her towards the door. Rose followed, biting her lip to hide a smile from Kevin. 

“Have a nice evening,” she called over her shoulder, for the express purpose of rubbing salt in the wound.

Kevin was watching them go, a look in his eyes that Rose couldn’t place, but didn’t like. 

When they got to the doors, the Doctor slid his hand down her arm and captured her fingers before he pushed the door open for them. 

“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” She gave him a little nudge when she asked, which raised the corner of his mouth.

“What’s that, now?” he asked in his most innocent tone.

“You enjoyed that. Asserting your dominance over a lesser man.”

“Oh, that prat?” The Doctor’s gave a dismissive wave with a twinkle in his eyes. “Barely noticed him.”

Rose made an indelicate sound through her nose. “Sure you didn’t.”

He looked as if he were debating, then he replied. “Alright, maybe the pretty-boy blipped on my radar.”

“Aha!” Rose bounced on the balls of her feet and turned towards him as they walked, her free finger pointing at him. “You were jealous of another man talking to me.”

The Doctor sniffed. “Jealousy is a petty emotion. Totally beneath Time Lords.”

“Not _my_ Time Lord,” Rose grinned, putting her tongue to the corner of her mouth, waiting for a reaction from him. Sure enough, his gaze followed the gesture, his eyes darkening. She giggled, completely unable to help herself. She was just too damned pleased. Then she chided him. “You’ve never been overly ecstatic when a rival came along.” 

“That wanker could never rival me, Rose,” he said in a low, dark voice.

“No, he couldn’t,” she assured him, and brought her other hand to cover their joined hands. “He couldn’t compare to someone as impressive as you.”

“Too right he couldn’t,” the Doctor said, chuffed.

“'Calvin', though?” She quirked a brow at him.

"What of it?" He was trying to look innocent, but Rose knew better.

"His name is 'Kevin', Doctor."

His expression darkened. “I don’t like that bloke, Rose. Don’t like the way he looks at you.”

Rose sobered. “I don’t either, but Mickey swears he’s harmless.”

The Doctor snorted. “Like the Idiot would know.”

“Oi!” She pulled him to a stop and he turned to look at her. “Mickey is my best mate, Doctor, and so far you’ve been pretty nice to him. What’s got your pants in a twist now?”

“I just don’t like that bloke, Rose.” He jerked his head backwards to indicate the bloke he was referring to. “Don’t want you seeing him.”

Rose appreciated the sentiment, but not the high-handed way he was treating her. “I’m not _seeing_ him. I’m _seeing_ you, yeah?”

He gave her a searching look, then apparently decided to change the subject. “You look lovely.”

Rose wasn’t having that. “Thank you. But back to what I was saying; I actually _like_ my job, and you can’t just go around insulting the people I work with.”

“Even that tosser?”

“Even that tosser,” she confirmed. 

He heaved a sigh. “Alright, fine. But if he bothers you again, let me know. I can tell you don’t like him much either, you know.”

“You’re right, but he’s my colleague and I'll have to work with him sometimes. It's been hard enough fitting in here without extra strife and drama. I need to get along with everyone. Not easy being new here, and being the Director's daughter.”

He gave her another searching look, then muttered, “You don’t have to work here. You could do anything else.”

“I know that. But I _choose_ to work here. I like my work. And besides, Pete asked me, and I couldn’t say no after everything he’s done for me and Mum.”

The Doctor seemed to weigh his words, then capitulated. “Just don’t let that Calvin bloke bother you. If he does, you let me know.”

Rose decided right then that she’d do no such thing, but didn’t tell him as much. They started walking towards his car in silence. She noticed that his hand seemed to hold hers more firmly, and she couldn’t be anything but happy about that. She lay her head over on his shoulder as they walked. He seemed mollified, and rubbed her thumb with his. 

It was funny, Rose thought, that someone so wonderful as the Doctor would be jealous of a prat like Kevin. But he’d always been this way. Anyone who seemed to have a whiff of interest in Rose had been an instant enemy, and becoming human didn’t seem to have changed that. She thought back to the look on Kevin’s face when she’d kissed the Doctor’s cheek and giggled again. 

“Something funny?” the Doctor asked, unlocking the passenger door. She smiled up at him. 

“You are, ya daft git.” She pulled him down to kiss his cheek again, wishing he’d turn his lips so it would ‘accidentally’ become a real kiss. “Just you.”

She tried to infuse as much meaning as possible into those last two words, hoping he’d understand. 

~*~O~*~ 

“Why are they training the drillers to be astronauts when they could just train the astronauts to use the drill?” Rose asked, reaching into his lap for the popcorn. 

The Doctor shrugged. “Idiots,” he offered by way of explanation.

“S’barmy,” Rose declared. “And I’ll bet there aren’t many oil drillers who look like Ben Affleck, either.” 

“Oi!” he said, turning his head to look down at her, where she was nestled under his arm. “M’right here, you know.”

Rose twisted her body a bit to look up at him. “I know, Doctor. And you’re more handsome than any of those blokes.”

The Doctor snorted and shook his head at her. _She's the barmy one_ , he thought when he turned back to film and reached for some popcorn of his own. 

She tittered and settled back into his side, where she belonged. They watched the film in silence for a while. _This is nice_ , he thought. No, that wasn't right. This was actually _bliss_. But his urge to go and do was starting to nag at him more and more, as were other, less pleasant thoughts. 

“Rose?” he began.

“Hmm?”

“Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?”

She sat up, away from him. “Now who’s barmy?”

“It’s a serious question.”

Rose rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. “No, Doctor. Of course I’m not.”

“Then why don’t we go out? Let’s go to dinner.”

“We can’t, Doctor. The minute we do someone will call the paparazzi and we’ll be swarmed.”

“Do you mean to stay in _all_ the time? They’re going to find out about ...us...at some point.”

She looked uncertain. “You mean to say…”

“I want to keep seein’ you, Rose. Indefinitely. That is… if...”

“I want that, too,” she said with a little smile tugging her lips, then it fell. “But I’m just not ready to share you yet. The paparazzi will make it hard for a while.”

“We can be covert.” He sensed her determination wavering and rushed to get under that chink in her armor before she could seal it up again. “Surely if we don’t make a big production about going out, it’ll slow them down a bit.”

“I suppose the big to-do surrounding me _has_ died down a bit,” she conceded.

“So let’s go to dinner. There’s a little pub just down the way - a little hole in the wall - and we could have chips. We’ll be fine if we don’t attract a lot of attention to ourselves.”

She grinned in earnest now. “Like our first date?”

“Yeah, except I’ll pay. Won’t forget me wallet this time."

She seemed to deliberate for a second, then nodded. “Let’s do it, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, folks! The halfway mark! I have one chapter left to write for this story, and then it's editing, editing, editing. Want to get this one just right!
> 
> Thank you for reading, sweethearts. xoxo
> 
> Ugh. Writing Kevin is fun but makes me feel dirty.


	11. Three Dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose has three dates within 24 hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally part of chapter 10, but it got really long so we decided to split it. To that end, it picks up right where 10 left off.
> 
> I also did some editing to it an hour or so after I posted it, so forgive me for any confusion.

The Doctor had spent a good amount of time in this pub, and the publican waved at him when they came in. He acknowledged the man with a nod, then he and Rose made their way to a table near the back of the pub with his hand on the small of her back. 

“Good place to people-watch, pubs are,” the Doctor said. “Get all sorts in here. It’s where I came often, when I first landed here. Was trying to learn more about this world.”

“Nice people?” Rose queried, eyes darting around the room.

“All of them seem to be,” he told her. “We’ll be fine.”

Her face softened and she squeezed his hand. “M’always safe with you, Doctor.”

He felt his chest tighten pleasantly and couldn’t help the goofy grin that spread over his face. She was just so bloody beautiful. He should probably straighten his face though, he figured, lest he wanted to stand in the middle of his local looking like the most besotted fool who ever lived. 

He figured it was only fair since it was the truth: he _was_ the most besotted fool who had ever lived, in this universe or the next. He didn’t much care what he looked like, but Rose might.

“‘Sides,” he told her, getting back to the subject at hand, “we won’t attract much attention in a crowd.”

“Doctor!” they heard from across the bar.

The Doctor sighed. “Unless Donna is around.”

Rose giggled as the ginger-haired woman made her way over to them, dodging around patrons and steadily making progress though the crowd, holding her pint of ale. “Rose! Didn’t expect to see you here!”

“We’re reenacting our first date,” Rose told her. 

The Doctor hoped that Donna would take the hint, but she didn’t.

“Well that’s lovely!” she exclaimed, then pushed at the Doctor’s shoulder. “Budge over. Let me have a seat.”

The Doctor felt like snarling, but Donna responded with a challenging look. He looked to Rose for help, but she was biting her lip in an unsuccessful bid to hide a smile. Grumbling, he slid around the table to sit by his date and let Donna have the seat across from Rose. Rose patted his hand as he sat, and he used his thumb to capture her fingers. She smiled at him and twisted her hand so that they were palm-to-palm, fingers intersecting.

“You two are so cute,” Donna cooed. “S’nice to see the Doctor happy.”

“Was happy ‘til _you_ sat down,” the Doctor muttered, and Donna shot him a look before she looked over at Rose. 

“Rose, I’ve been meaning to ask you if you’d like to go out shopping sometime. Maybe tomorrow?”

Rose’s face brightened, but she looked to the Doctor hesitantly. “I’d love to, but I think we had plans...”

“Oh, this old codger will let you out of his sight for an afternoon, I’m sure.”

“Oi! M’not a codger!”

“Of course you’re not,” Donna patted his free hand to oblige him. 

“Prime of my life, me,” he protested.

“ _Sure_ you are,” Donna grinned, then turned back to Rose. “I’ve got a new bloke, Lee, and I’d like to look nice on his arm. You’re so stylish, I could really use your help.”

“Oh ho, a new bloke, eh?” the Doctor crowed. “Finally getting back out in the world?”

Donna made a show of ignoring him.

“Is he here? I’d love to meet him,” Rose looked around the bar as if she would be able to recognize a total stranger.

“I would, too, come to think of it. Can’t have you taking up with some git,” the Doctor told Donna with a concerned look.

Again, she ignored him. “Nah, he’s working tonight,” she said. “He’s an IT guy and usually just works eight-to-five, but they have to re-wire the corporate office over the weekend so it’s ready on Monday. Won’t see him this weekend. Would you maybe want to go tomorrow?” 

Rose looked at the Doctor with questioning eyes. He’d been dropping hints about taking her driving tomorrow afternoon, and he’d thought privately that he may surprise her with a picnic or something. But he figured Rose would enjoy the time with Donna - although the prospect of the two of them together was more than a little daunting. “Up to you,” he shrugged. “We can go after, or Sunday.”

She beamed at him, then turned back to Donna. “You’ve got a date. Would you like me to meet you in town, or do you want to pick me up at my place?”

“I’ll just pick you up,” Donna told her. “I’ve never been to a mansion before!”

Rose giggled. “I hadn’t either, really, until _this one_ came along.” She tipped her head in the Doctor’s direction and squeezed his hand to indicate that she was talking about him. “Took me all kinds of amazing places.”

Donna watched the two of them with a hint of a smile, then leaned across the table to stage-whisper to Rose. “He’s been much less of an arse since he found you. His students love it. You’ve been good for him.”

The Doctor felt his ears growing pink and pursed his lips.

“That so? I’ve been more pleasant, myself, since he found me.” She gave him a fond look, and the Doctor fell just that much more in love with her.

“That’s good,” Donna grinned. “Just be aware that I’m claiming responsibility for both your happiness.”

“Oi!” the Doctor protested. 

“What?” Donna asked with a raised eyebrow. “It’s true! You’d still be grumpy and hard to deal with if I hadn’t made you write that letter.”

The Doctor didn’t dignify that with a response. 

“I’ll be right back,” Rose said. “Need to pop to the loo.” She stood with a smile, then made her way through the crowd. As soon as Rose turned the corner to the loo, the Doctor wheeled around to Donna. 

“Get out.”

“Oi! Rude!”

“I mean it. I’m on a date, Donna!”

Donna quirked an eyebrow. “Oh, so it _is_ a date, then? You her bloke now?”

The Doctor had no idea whether he was or not, but he wasn’t about to admit that to Donna. “I bloody well won’t be if you keep hijacking my time with her!”

“Me!?” Donna’s eyes were flashing when she sat her beer down and the Doctor cringed. He’d worked her up. This could be bad. He set out to soothe her ruffled feathers. 

He raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Alright, Donna…”

“No it’s not bloody well alright! You accused me - falsely, I might add - of hijacking your dates, and I have done no such thing!”

“I know, I know,” he shushed her. “I was wrong. Okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“It’s a start!” 

“Donna…”

“What’s going on?” Rose queried, returning to the table. 

“Your bloke here accused me of ruining your evening,” Donna huffed.

“I don’t think the evening’s ruined,” the Doctor backpedaled.

“No, I know when I’m not welcome!” Donna declared, pushing away from the table. “I’ll just make myself scarce.”

“Donna, you don’t have to go.” The Doctor recognized Rose doing what she’d always done so well: covering for his rudeness. He was grateful and hoped it would mollify Donna. 

Donna shook her head. “No, no, I should go. After all, I wouldn’t want to get in the way of this one’s grand romantic plan,” she snarked and jerked her thumb towards the Doctor. Rose stifled a giggle and the Doctor flushed with embarrassment. 

“See you tomorrow, then?” Rose asked, looking uncomfortable. 

“Of course you will! It’s a date, remember?” Donna bent and air kissed beside Rose’s cheek and the Doctor rolled his eyes. She turned to him. “Oi! Spaceman!”

The Doctor glanced at her, his brow knitted in apprehension.

“Have a nice _date_ ,” she teased, then turned and flounced away. The Doctor watched her go and was thoroughly unsurprised when she spun around and pulled a ridiculous, smiling face while giving him a thumbs up. He sighed and buried his face in one hand. 

Rose giggled. “Problem, Doctor?”

“I think maybe you two shouldn’t hang around each other. It could be a real problem for me.”

Rose burst into laughter, and he decided that whatever came of Rose and Donna being friends would be worth it, if it enhanced Rose’s happiness.

~*~O~*~

Rose was having a grand time shopping with Donna. They’d picked out several cute outfits for Donna to wear on her dates with Lee, and had decided to go to a cafe for a late lunch. The Doctor had sent her several messages, pestering her with the sole intent of ensuring that Donna _wasn’t_ pestering her, and she’d smiled when she opened each one. Her responses to him stated that she was having a lovely time and Donna was ‘behaving’, as he’d phrased it. 

She didn’t tell the Doctor that Donna _was_ , however, pumping Rose for information about the two of them. Rose had done her best to deflect all of her questions, until Donna finally got impatient while they were at the cafe. 

“Oh, come on. You don’t have to hide anything from me. I already know about your past with the Doctor, and where you two come from.”

Rose was stunned, unsure whether the Doctor had lied to Donna or not. 

“What did he tell you?”

“That he’s a nine hundred-year-old alien - well, he _was_ \- and that the two of you come from another universe.”

Rose blinked, surprised, and nodded. “He is - _was_ -and we do.”

“Blimey,” Donna exhaled, sitting back in her chair. “I always thought he was barmy.”

“He’s barmy alright, but he’s telling you the truth.” Rose leaned forward and reached for Donna’s hand. “Please don’t tell anyone, Donna. Where I come from is a closely-guarded secret, and only a handful of people know the truth.”

Donna snorted. “As if I’d tell. Nobody would believe me, anyway. Besides, I want to keep the two of you happy and together.” She narrowed her eyes when Rose pulled back. “You _are_ happy, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am,” she assured her new friend with complete sincerity. “I just...I’m not sure about the Doctor.”

“Oh, he’s happy. I’ve never seen him so pleasant.”

“It’s not that, it’s just...well, he’s always run hot and cold before. We’d get close, and he’d push me away. I’m worried about him doing the same thing now, I guess.”

Donna scoffed. “Not gonna happen. He pined and pined before he found you again. Talked about you every day, he did.”

Rose brightened a bit. “He did?”

“Oh my giddy aunt yes. It was ‘Rose this’ and ‘Rose that’ and ‘one time me and Rose met Charles Dickens’.”

“That’s true,” Rose said, smiling at the memory. “We did. Ran into ghosts that night, too. Well, they were aliens that didn’t have a body, but I thought they were ghosts for a while.”

“That’s what he said,” Donna confirmed. “So either you’re telling the truth, or you’re both barmy.”

Rose just smiled. “It’s all true. One day, when she gets to know you a bit, remind me to have my mum tell you about the time he brought me home a year late, yeah?”

“He did _what?_ ” 

Rose nodded. “Mum nearly went mental. That was the day we blew up Downing Street.”

Donna shook her head. “He told me you blew up Downing Street, but not about making you miss an entire year of your life. Sounds like he wanted to leave out the parts that made him look like a git.”

Rose giggled. “That’s entirely likely.”

“But Rose,” Donna said, reaching across for Rose’s hand, “he’s completely besotted with you. I don’t know what he was like before, but I do know him now. He’s not about to run away from you, from this, not now. I promise you.”

“You really think so?”

“I _know_ so. I really, really do.”

~*~O~*~

They walked hand-in-hand up the drive of her parents’ house from the garden. The night air was cool and Rose shivered. The Doctor promptly took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders.

“Mmm. Thank you,” she told him with a smile. She tried to be covert when she took a deep whiff of the collar. He noticed anyway, his heart filling with joy, and smiled down at her. 

“Why did you make such a big deal out of Donna having a new bloke?” Rose wondered.

“I’m glad for her. She’s had it rough, Donna has.”

Rose smiled and squeezed his hand. “You’re really fond of her.”

“Ah, well, when I first landed here, I didn’t like her. She was gruff and bossy and, well, you know how she is and you know me. She didn’t like me, either. We clashed.”

“But you’re such good mates now. What happened?”

“On my third day of work after I landed here, I went to get something out of the supply closet and found her in there, crying her eyes out. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me that her bloke, Lance, had left her standing at the altar in her wedding dress on the Saturday before. He’d abandoned her for another woman.”

Rose frowned. “That’s terrible.”

“It was,” he nodded. “Her being such a harridan made sense all of the sudden and, well, she ended up hugging me and I let her. The next thing I knew, I was checking on her while I got coffee. Next thing I knew after _that_ , she was joining me for lunch. Said I was the only professor that treated her like a human and not a robot that did the typing.” He shrugged. “Donna’s been a good friend. She was kind to me while I was searching for you. We were both lonely, but being friends with each other kind of made that easier. She’s brassy, but I like her.”

“I like her, too,” Rose agreed with a little smile.

“I’m not ready to take you home yet,” he told her when they reached her porch.

“You don’t have to. I’m twenty-four, Doctor. I don’t have a curf-”

Her words were stopped when he pressed his lips to hers. She tensed for only a moment before she leaned into him, wrapping her leather-encased arms around his neck, cupping the back of his head. Her lips were soft as he moved against his against them, feeling the slide of her lip gloss, then he caught her bottom lip between his own and nibbled at it. Rose made a little, involuntary noise and he teased her with his tongue. She opened to him, carding her fingers through his hair, and he pulled her even tighter against him, clutching her close. Rose melted against his body. 

It seemed like forever and yet only a moment when he pulled away from her, looking into her eyes.

“Been wanting to do that for years, me,” he murmured.

“Me, too,” she confessed.

“Since Cardiff and Dickens.” 

“Since ‘I can feel the turn of the Earth’,” she smiled up at him. He lay his forehead against hers and took a deep breath, still holding her close, so close. 

“You should go inside.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I don’t want you to. But you should. It’s the wrong time and place for this. And besides, I’ve waited too long to rush it.”

Rose looked thoughtful, and he was about to ask her what was going on in that head of hers when she spoke.

“Kevin asked me something yesterday…” The Doctor stiffened at the name. She stroked his head and kissed the tip of his nose to soothe him. 

Slightly more relaxed, he asked her, “What’d that blighter want to know?”

“He wondered if you were my bloke.”

He sighed and nodded. “Donna asked the same thing.”

She bit her lip anxiously, then pulled her head away from his to meet his eyes, his gorgeous, expressive blue eyes, that were naked with emotion right now. 

“Are you?” she whispered.

“Do you want me to be?” he returned, equally quiet. 

She bit the side of her lip again and nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

If anyone was going to nibble that lip, it would be him. He rescued it from her teeth with his own lips and proceeded to snog her, deeply, passionately, on the porch. They were both a little out of breath when they broke apart.

“Fantastic,” he breathed. 


	12. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our story earns its rating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, hey, look. Smut.

Rose was frustrated. The past two weeks had been full of trips to the pub, cuddling on the couch, and all the kissing and touching Rose had always dreamed of from the Doctor. But she wanted more. And the immensely frustrating part was, she was certain he did, too.

She’d finally felt comfortable enough to drive on her own the week before, and Pete had bought her a car. Rose was excited by her newfound independence. She loved being able to come and go from the Doctor’s flat without having to wait for him to cart her around everywhere. She took advantage of this freedom by visiting him most days after work. Some nights, the two of them would get take-away and then retire to his couch to watch telly or read, and other nights they’d go to dinner at the local, holding hands the whole way, and then sit in the back of the pub snogging covertly. He’d taken to introducing her as “my Rose”, and her heart sang every time he did. 

Occasionally Donna would join them at the pub for dinner, and Rose liked having her around. The Doctor always kept his arm around her or her hand in his, and she enjoyed the way Donna was so fearless in taking the mick out of the Doctor. The way Donna teased him, the way the three of them interacted, made Rose think back to their travels with Jack: how Jack never wasted an opportunity to pester the Doctor about her, his driving, whatever came to mind. Donna reminded Rose quite a bit of Jack, to be honest... Except, you know, the constant chasing of men, women, and a variety of aliens. There was only one Jack.

But whether they went out or stayed in, every night they’d end up back at his flat, lips plastered together and hands roaming. They kissed and touched until Rose was breathless with want, but they hadn’t made love yet. Rose was following the Doctor’s lead since he had been the one to pull back every time, but she was growing more and more frustrated. She believed that he wanted her - the evidence of his desire for her was hard to miss - but he hadn’t pushed her beyond some light touches and deep, passionate kisses.

She hoped that tonight would be different, or she just might have to strip to her knickers and demand that he take her. 

It felt a bit different tonight, though: the Doctor seemed to be kissing her even more ardently than usual. He was kissing with intent. They sat on the couch, both thoroughly ignoring the film that was playing, and snogging as if their lives depended on it. Neither had been watching the film, anyway. For her part, Rose was much more interested in the man that was gently pushing her shoulder to lay her down across his couch. He hadn’t done that before, and _oh, yes._

It had been more than two years since she’d been kissed or even really touched by a man, and Rose was ready. Her hopes grew when the only man she’d wanted in those two years was currently slipping his hand under her sweater to skim up her side and claim her breast.

“Rose,” he breathed against the skin of her neck, “you’re so beautiful.”

“For a human?” she panted with a grin against his shoulder, wondering why she was making a joke at a time like this, when her body was very, very serious. 

He kissed his way up her neck to her jaw, his beard tickling her, and Rose arched her neck to give him the access he sought. “For anyone, Rose Tyler,” he murmured against the spot behind her ear. “All of time and space, and I’ve never seen anything or anyone as beautiful as you.”

“You’re just trying to get into my knickers,” she accused, and gave him a tongue-touched grin when he looked up at her.

His lips descended on hers without a moment’s hesitation, his tongue planting its flag in every corner of her mouth. 

“Not denyin’ it, me,” he confirmed when he pulled away, only to trail little kisses back down the path he’d taken on the way up her neck. “Been wanting this for a long time.”

“But every night for the last two weeks... You just stopped just when we were...”

He raised his head again, his eyes incredulous. “Didn’t want to rush you. Still not sure I’m doing the right thing.”

She raised her hips a little, rolling them against the hardness in his jeans. She groaned when he returned the pressure, rutting against her where she was wet and wanting. "No complaints here,” she sighed. “What you're doing s'exactly right."

He attacked her mouth again, a sloppy, desperate kiss, sliding his tongue against hers until she had to turn her head to the side to gasp for breath. The Doctor was undeterred, skating the hand that wasn’t propping him up back down her side until he reached the top of her denims, sliding his hand between their bodies to the fastening. 

“Gonna have a bit of a time of it with these in the way.”

“So get rid of them,” she encouraged him with another roll of her hips. 

The Doctor raised up on his knees, leaving her bereft of his weight as he released the button. Then he hesitated, looking down at her with concern in his eyes. “Are you sure this is what you want, Rose? Are you absolutely sure? Because once we do this there’s no going back for me. I’ll never be able to be ‘just mates’ again.”

“We were _never_ ‘just mates’, Doctor.” Rose took his hand and pulled it down between her legs, letting him feel the heat and dampness. “Does it feel like I don’t want this?”

He bit his lip for a second, and Rose could tell it was to hide a moan. “I mean it, Rose,” he told her seriously - but cupped her anyway, massaging her there. “I don’t want you to make a decision based on your hormones.”

“Oh, shut up and undress me.”

He froze, looking at her for just a moment before he set to work unzipping her trousers and tugging them down her legs, using his feet to shove them off her so they lay balled up at the end of the couch. Rose used her own foot to flick them out of the way. 

He lay himself back down on top of her, and oh that was _brilliant_ , what he was doing with his hand on her breast. His other hand slid between her back and the couch, and she positioned herself until she was almost sitting up and he could reach her back to unhook her bra. He didn’t waste time, nor did he release her mouth until he grabbed the hem of her jumper and pulled it over her head. He made quick work of pulling her bra away from her body, baring her breasts to him and looking at them, staggered. 

“Like what you see?” she teased.

“Blimey, Rose,” he breathed. 

He bent down to capture one nipple in his mouth, ringing the areola with his tongue before sucking on it. Rose cried out and slid her hands down to the hem of _his_ jumper, needing to feel his skin against hers. She tugged it, and he released her nipple long enough to help her remove the offending garment and throw it to the side, just as he had done with hers, before returning to attack her other breast. 

“Doctor,” she moaned.

He replied to her through his teeth, which were currently worrying her nipple. “Yes, Rose?”

She undulated beneath him - couldn’t help it, really - and scrambled to recall what she was going to ask him. Remembering, she panted, “Wouldn’t we have more room in a bed?”

He released her breast with a pop then kissed his way up to her neck while his hand slipped between them to cup her, tracing a finger along her slit through the damp fabric of her knickers. 

“Do you want me to take you to bed, Rose?”

“Uh-huh.” She was unable to articulate anything more. She was going mad, she knew it. He was going to drive her absolutely mad. 

He pushed off her suddenly, hopping to his feet, then reached down to pull her up to him. She came willingly, throwing her arms around his shoulders and pressing her bare chest against his. They both gasped again at the sensation of skin on skin. With a growl, he reached down to the backs of her thighs and pulled up. Rose responded to his cue and jumped up, wrapping her arms around his neck so he was carrying her, bridal style. The Doctor kissed her again. 

Then he was taking her somewhere. His bedroom, she presumed, but she honestly didn’t care. Just as long as he didn’t stop gripping her thighs the way he was, massaging them in his strong fingers. 

When the Doctor came to a stop, he lowered her until she was sitting on a soft surface. He dropped to his knees before her, trailing open-mouthed kisses down her torso, pausing at her breasts to knead them in his hands and suckle them - first one, then the other. 

Incoherent, she groaned, arching her back. 

“You taste so good, Rose,” his cool breath whispered over her burning skin.. “I want to taste more of you.”

_Oh God, oh fuck, did he mean...?_

Apparently that was _exactly_ what he meant; his hands slid to her waist, and he dragged his mouth down her abdomen. She spread her legs for him, wanton and wanting. Smirking in anticipation, he brought his mouth down to where she wanted - _needed_ \- him most. 

“These knickers are pretty,” he rumbled, his lips moving against her between kisses. “Shame what I’m about to do to them.”

“Wha-”

It was all she was able to get out before he hooked his fingers into each side of the black lace and ripped them at the seams. 

_Christ, that was hot._

He pulled the tattered remains away from her body and wasted no time pressing his lips to her damp curls. His tongue parted her, and she bucked. He brought one arm up to cover her hips and hold her down while he licked her.

And oh, did he lick her. _Devoured_ her, more like, and it was well beyond any imaginings Rose had ever had. His beard tickled, and she purred from the sensation. She brought her hands down to his head, carding her fingers through his hair while he sucked and nibbled, pleading incoherently for more. He obliged, slipping one long finger of his free hand inside. She cried his name, and some remaining rational fragment of her mind wondered idly if he had neighbors and if so, would they be disturbed.

When he thrust another finger into her, she honestly didn’t give a damn. 

“Please, Doctor, please, yes, more… _fuck_ ,” she babbled as she writhed beneath his talented tongue, feeling his smile against her flesh. 

“Like that, do you?” he gloated, still pumping his fingers in and out, giving her a wet, cheeky grin.

“Shut up, you daft alien git! _Don’t stop_!”

“Oh, I’m not an alien anymore, Rose Tyler,” he growled. “I’m a human. A man. _Your_ man. And I’m going to make you scream before I fuck you senseless.”

Rose moaned, and he brought his mouth back down to her sopping folds, licking and sucking at her clit. 

She felt it building, felt herself climbing the mountain of her arousal, teetering on the brink of release. When he nipped at her and curled his fingers, unerringly finding _that spot_ , she flew apart, screaming his name just as he’d promised. 

He worked her down slowly, still teasing her clit - for his amusement, now, without any intent - causing her whole body to shudder with each erratic flick of his tongue. 

“Doctor, please,” she whimpered. “Please, I need… I want you to fuck me.”

“Oh, I’m going to. Don’t you doubt it,” he vowed, withdrawing his fingers. He put them in his mouth, making a show out of sucking them clean of her juices, then wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “Scoot back,” he commanded. “Get up to the pillows.”

She obeyed, positioning herself on the bed where he told her, still panting, while he shed his jeans and pants. His cock sprung free and Rose gasped a little. He was big - bigger than she’d been expecting. Her eyes widened and she licked her lips without realizing she’d done so. 

He gave her a cheeky smile when he crawled onto the bed to join her and draped his body over hers. “I want to make love to you, Rose. But first, I want to make you come apart again. I want to watch you. Want to see it.”

“Please,” Rose whispered, incapable of anything else. 

He kissed her then and she tasted herself on him, felt the remains of her orgasm in his short beard while he gently rutted against her curls, rubbing against her _right there_. He brought one hand up to cup her breast for a moment as he kissed her softly, bringing his body full-length beside her, covering his mouth with his and spreading his free hand across her belly, roaming. He kissed her deeply, his tongue dancing with hers as his fingers curled around the flesh of her breast, kneading, worshiping. 

He raised up and she looked at him with half-lidded eyes. His brilliant blue eyes roamed her as he lay propped on one elbow with his free hand skating all over her. His hand slipped lower, causing the muscles of her abdomen to jump everywhere his fingertips touched as they trailed a path lower. Her skin luxuriated under his hand and she made a small, involuntary sound at the thought of what she’d feel again when he reached the very center of her. He paused, though, before he got there and lay his forehead against her sternum.

Rose was a little alarmed. “Doctor? What is it?”

He looked up at her and she reached up to put a hand behind his neck. “It’s just…I don’t know, Rose.” He bent to suck her nipple into his mouth and slipped his hand down to part her where she ached for him. “I just…I had just dreamed of you, I dreamed of you every day and night. I started to wonder if you were a figment of my imagination. I’d almost given up on you being real anymore.” His hand cupped her mons; she arched and he captured her other nipple, swirling his tongue around it. She brought both hands to his head and bowed her back, silently begging for his touch and more of his tongue - saying ‘yes’ to an unasked question. 

“But you’re here, corporeal. I just don’t even know what to say.” He laved her breast slowly before teasing the nipple with his teeth, rolling it with his tongue when he dipped just the tip of his finger into her folds. 

Rose grabbed him by the ears and dragged him to her for another demanding kiss, moaning into his mouth as he slipped his finger further into her heat, then another, and then his thumb teased her hard little nub, circling it slowly.

“Tell me you want me," she breathed. “That you want this. I’ve wanted this for so long, Doctor...”

He acquiesced, telling her all of that and more: sweet nothings and precious everythings whispered in her ear as he rocked his fingers in and out of her, curling them upward, stroking her most sensitive places; kissing her and swallowing her moans while she twisted with mingled want and need beneath his hand.

Her breath began to come in gasps and the Doctor intensified his assault, knowing the time was upon her again and exactly what she needed. He didn’t let up as she came for him, spreading her legs wider then slamming them shut around his hand, crying out his name, and writhing in bliss. She ended on a sob and sighed as he pulled his fingers out, rolling her under him so he could hover atop her, between her legs. Rose wound one leg around his waist, pressing him closer, clinging to him. 

“You’re sure?” he confirmed.

She nodded as she found her voice. “I’ve never been so sure.” 

That seemed to be enough for him. A lascivious smirk curled over his lips and with a possessive growl, he lined himself up with her entrance and pressed in, slowly, rasping, “Rassilon, Rose.” When he was fully sheathed, he groaned, letting his forehead drop to her shoulder. “You’re so hot, Rose, so fucking tight.” He pulled almost all the way out before he sank himself into her again. Again, he shifted his hips to pull out, then thrust back in unhurriedly. “So good, so fucking good,” he repeated.

He thrust hard enough to rock her back into the bed and she called out his name in a ragged plea. The Doctor retreated then plunged again, capturing her mouth in a kiss that was pure possession, heat, and pressure, fueled by a mutual desire to claim each other.

She clenched on him and he groaned, “Don’t, love. I won’t last if you do…” She responded by licking the spot behind his ear, locking her ankles around his waist and clenching again. He moaned and thrust into her over and over, a dance of conquest and retreat, as he slipped a hand between them to the place they were joined. 

“Faster,” she gasped. “Harder.”

“Patience, love,” he murmured against her skin. “Too much, and this will all be over too soon.”

“Then we can do it again!” she whined. “ _Please_!”

He obliged, setting a rhythm that was almost what she needed, but not quite. She scrabbled at his back, gripping him with her short fingernails. He grunted and grabbed the back of her thigh, hitching it up his body, opening her to him even more, pushing his cock even deeper into her. 

“Yes!” Rose cried. “Like that - _oh!_ More!”

The Doctor groaned but picked up the pace. Rose was incoherent but knew that she wasn’t going to last much longer. It was just too good. 

“If you only knew, Rose.” He brought his mouth back up to hers and let his tongue mimic the rhythm of their bodies. “If you only knew how much I’ve wanted this. How long I’ve waited to see you spread out beneath me, begging me for more. How much I’ve wanted to make you mine.”

“Oh, _oh_ , Doctor.” Her voice broke with every impact, leaving her words stuttering off her tongue - but she wanted him to hear them. “Yours...just please, _ah, fuck_ , please don’t stop!”

“Close,” he ground out. “Say it again.”

“Yours, Doctor!”

He made sloppy circles on her clit. “Come, Rose!”

She obeyed, screaming his name as he pounded into her hard and fast until, whispering her name like a prayer, praise, and plea all in one, he came, his hips shuddering to a halt. 

She lay gasping beneath him, her arms and one leg wrapped around him, tracing his spine with her short nails. He made a move to roll off of her and she clutched him tighter. “Don’t,” she demanded. “Just...just stay here.”

“I’ll crush you,” he said, between deep, panting breaths, his brow furrowed with concern.

“Just stay,” she pleaded again.

He responded with a gentle kiss, so much more calm but no less passionate than the ones he had been giving her only moments before. When he softened enough to slip out of her, he rolled over onto his side, sighing contentedly and pulled Rose with him. She went willingly, draping one arm and leg across him. 

“I meant it, Doctor,” she whispered against his chest.

“Hmm?”

“I’m yours. For as long as you’ll have me.”

“I want you forever, Rose Tyler.”

“Then you’ve got me, Doctor.”

He hesitated for a moment, then spoke again. “Stay with me tonight.”

She raised her head to give him a cheeky grin. “Not satisfied?”

“Not by a long shot. Don’t think I’ll ever be,” he replied. “But what I _really_ want is to wake up with you in my arms.” 

Rose could hardly say no to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is DONE! All 20 chapters are written! They still, however, require a LOT of editing, so while I hope to be posting more frequently, I make no promises. I'd rather get this fic right than get it out. Does that make sense? Besides, I'm running poor tenroseforeverandever into the ground with eight chapters to beta. Bless her heart, she's the best. <3 Thank you!
> 
> And thank you for reading!


	13. Exposed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose are sold out to the media.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one, folks, but necessary. 
> 
> As always, this was beta'd by tenroseforeverandever, but all the mistakes are mine. <3
> 
> Thank you for reading!!

The Doctor kissed Rose’s still-sleeping forehead just before sunrise. She mumbled something incoherent and he smiled at her, a bit worried that his heart just might burst at the sight of her: rumpled hair, sleeping in his jumper, in his bed. It had been two weeks - well, two weeks and two days - since she started staying over, and he didn’t think he’d ever get over the thrill of it. He kissed her again, just because he knew he could. With a gentle smile he slipped out of the bed, taking care not to wake her, and prepared for his morning run.

His runs had been his favorite time of day - until Rose came along. He’d always enjoyed the solitude of the early morning and the physical exertion, finding that it emptied his head and left him calm afterwards. His head wasn’t empty anymore, however; it was constantly filled with thoughts of Rose. 

The running had come with an additional benefit. He’d been more than a little disgruntled when his body had betrayed him and he’d gained ten pounds: gone were the Time Lord days, when he had been running for his life all the time and had had superior physiology. When he took up running as a hobby he lost the weight again. Thank Rassilon. It wouldn’t have done to have Rose see his human weaknesses. Not too impressive, that.

Ah, Rose… The Doctor was a clever man, with nine centuries of knowledge stored in his brain. But when it came to love and romance, he only knew what he’d seen from the outside looking in. He wasn’t sure he was doing everything - or anything - right, but he knew that he’d never felt this way before. And that he never wanted it to end. 

Rose was still asleep when he got back to his flat after his run. He’d been getting both of them a coffee while he was out every morning on the nights that she’d stayed over...and she’d stayed over more often than not. It had become a part of his morning routine.

Chloe had asked pointed questions about who the extra coffee was for, and he’d deflected or ignored all of them. It wasn’t her business who he was seeing, but he suspected Chloe felt differently about that. He repressed a shudder. Hopefully the girl would catch on sooner rather than later that nothing was ever going to happen between them. He strode back to his apartment with the coffees in hand.

While he was out, Rose had covered her head with the blanket to avoid the sunlight. He set her coffee down on the nightstand and his right beside it. Once again, Chloe had made his too sweet, and it was virtually undrinkable. He supposed he’d just have to start ordering it black. 

The Doctor didn’t disturb Rose, going to his en suite for a quick shower instead. He dried off and slipped on his pants, then went back into his room. Rose had shifted and now lay on her side curled in on herself. He wondered if she was cold. 

Well, with this new human-hot body, he could certainly fix that. 

Going around to his side of the bed, he lifted the duvet and climbed in behind her, spooning right up against her, draping an arm across her waist and seeking out her hand to thread his fingers in.

“Mmmm….” Rose mumbled, stretching a little and rubbing against him. His body took definite notice. “Mornin’ Doctor.”

“Morning, Rose. Sleep well?”

“You snore,” she accused.

He drew his head back from the shoulder he’d been kissing and put on his best outraged voice. “Rose Tyler, you take that back!”

She rolled onto her back to look at him. “Nothing doing. You snore, Doctor.”

He wanted to kiss the grin right off her face. “That’s rubbish,” he sniffed. “I do not.”

“S’alright if you snore,” she told him. “I like knowing you’re beside me.”

“I like knowing you’re here, too, Rose.” He pulled her closer, then kissed her soundly. “Almost as much as I like waking up with you.”

~*~O~*~

Chloe was in the stockroom taking inventory when her friend, Heather, popped her head in.

“Chloe?”

“Yeah?”

“Dr. Dixon is here. You told me to let you know if he came in.”

She felt the smile spreading across her face when she straightened her apron and touched her hair to make sure it was in place, then she set out to the front counter. 

Dr. Dixon was standing there...with a blonde woman several years younger than herself, and they were holding hands. Chloe’s stomach lurched at the sight. Was this the "friend" he had been buying coffees for every morning? They seemed close. Then she shook her head. This girl couldn't be his girlfriend, could she? No... she was so young compared to him. Probably just a niece or something, going to uni. A close niece...?

“Hi, Dr. Dixon!” 

He looked up at her, and oh, those blue eyes got her every time. “Good morning, Chloe. I’d like two black coffees, please.”

“Coming right up,” she chirped, then set to work. From the corner of her eye she caught Dr. Dixon and the blonde talking together, still hand-in-hand, and Dr. Dixon laughed at something she said. Laughed! He’d never laughed with _her._

“Here you go. That’ll be four pounds, seventy-five.” He pulled out his wallet to pay, and she was gratified to see him release the girl’s hand. 

“Who’s your friend?” Chloe chirped, then kicked herself a little. 

Dr. Dixon put his wallet back into his pocket and reached back down to take the girl’s hand. “This,” he announced proudly, “is Rose.”

“Ah. Pleased to meet you, Rose,” she said through a grimace she hoped would pass as a smile. 

“Pleased to meet you,” Rose replied politely, and Chloe felt like gagging. _Ugh._

“Have a nice morning, Chloe,” Dr. Dixon offered, then led Rose by the hand to his usual table in the back. 

She said something - she was never sure later what it was - and watched them go. The shop got busy all of the sudden, and she was forced to stop watching them. But between customers, she’d glance over their way. 

Dr. Dixon and Rose were still joined at the hands, and she’d never seen him with that expression on his face before. It was like every smile she’d seen from him before today, every beautiful smile, had been perfunctory. The smile he was giving Rose lit up his whole face. 

She looked over at them again while she was making a cappuccino just in time to see Dr. Dixon and Rose exchange a sweet kiss. She felt like crying. 

The rush eventually died down, and she watched the two covertly. That girl was most definitely _not_ his niece. Uncles didn’t put their hands on their niece’s leg like _that_. 

Heather walked over to her. “Say, isn’t that your Dr. Dixon?”

“Yes,” Chloe bit out.

“I thought he’d been getting his coffee to go the last couple of weeks?”

“He has been.”

Heather was quiet for a moment, then said. “That girl he’s with. She looks an awful lot like the Vitex heiress.”

“Who?” Chloe snapped.

“The Vitex heiress. You know. She was lost for years and years, but she was found a couple of months ago.”

Chloe peered over at Dr. Dixon and Rose, squinting. This girl looked like a chav, with her hair in a ponytail and big hoop earrings. Surely she wasn’t…

Realization struck. _This is Rose,_ he’d said. 

“What’s her name?” Chloe asked.

“Who?”

“The Vitex heiress!”

“Oh! Some flower name, I think. Lily or Daisy.”

“Rose?”

“That’s it. Rose Tyler.”

“Rose Tyler,” Chloe repeated to herself. “Rose Tyler.”

Dr. Dixon laughed at something Rose said; the noise drew Chloe’s attention and stirred her jealousy further. Then he bent over to kiss her again, and Chloe’s mood darkened even more. He’d always been circumspect when Chloe had talked to him, very quiet about his life. Very private.

Dr. Dixon and the Vitex heiress stood to leave, throwing their empty cups out on the way. He didn’t favor her with a look. She watched him go and realized she wasn’t sad, she was angry. _Furious._

“I’m sorry, Chloe,” Heather said. “I know you liked him.”

Chloe shook her off. “I’m going to be in the back doing inventory. Call for me if you need me.”

“No problem,” Heather replied. 

Chloe was tired of other people always getting what she wanted, and she was not going to stand for this. She was going to have Dr. Dixon for her own, and that was all there was to it.

She bypassed the stock room and went straight to the little office, shutting the door behind her. She pulled out her phone and inputted some information. Getting what she wanted, she lifted the receiver from the cradle on the desk and dialed the number on her phone’s screen. 

“Yes, is this the Post? I need the society desk, please.”

She picked her nails while she was on hold, listening to the insipid music. 

“Hello, is this the society section? Yeah? I’ve got a scoop for you. Rose Tyler has a boyfriend.”

~*~O~*~

“That Chloe girl is looking at you again,” Rose told the Doctor around a sip of coffee.

“Let her look.”

“She fancies you,” Rose smiled. 

He sighed. “I know.”

Rose’s eyes widened. “But you brought me here anyway?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? I like it here.”

Rose snorted a laugh. “You’re so mean, Doctor.”

He gave her an innocent look. “Me?”

“Poor girl.”

He scoffed. “Poor girl, nothing. She’s been makin’ eyes at me for months now. Be good for her to see it’s hopeless. Maybe she’ll stop putting extra syrup in my coffee.”

Rose gave him a cheeky grin. “Maybe she thinks you need sweetening.”

The Doctor laughed. “She wouldn’t be the first. I seem to remember a certain blonde telling me I was rude. Rather often.”

“You _are_ rude rather often,” she chided with a tongue-touched smile.

He sobered, giving her a smoldering look. “Not to you.”

“No, not to me.”

He ducked his head and kissed her smile.

Rose bit her lip when he pulled back, unable to do anything else. A thought occurred to her, and she checked her watch. “I need to get to work. I like to give myself extra time in the rush hour traffic.” 

“Okay, let’s go.”

They stood up and threw their cups away, then made their way to the pavement, palms together and fingers twined with each other. 

“That was fun. I’d say we should do it more often, but Chloe may have an aneurysm.”

The Doctor scoffed. “She’ll be alright.”

They stopped at the corner by Rose’s car, and he gave her a lingering kiss that Rose felt all the way down to her toes. 

“Mmm. Love when you kiss me like that.”

“Love to do it, me.”

“I’m staying at Mum’s tonight. Says she has something to tell me and it can’t be over the phone.” She rolled her eyes. "I think she just wants me at home."

He gave her a very put-upon sigh. “If you must.”

She slipped her arms around his waist, under his jacket. “You know I’d rather be with _you_.”

“I know,” he said, dropping a kiss to her hair. “I’d rather you be with me, too.”

Rose hugged him one more time, then pulled back, standing on her toes to give him a sweet kiss. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too, Rose. See you tomorrow?”

“You can count on it.”

~*~O~*~

The next morning, the Doctor arrived at the coffee shop to find a crowd gathered around the front. He elbowed through it as best he could, then went inside.

“Dr. Dixon!” Chloe chirped. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Chloe. What’s all this?” he asked, indicating the crowd of people out front.

“They’re watching for Rose Tyler.”

The Doctor stiffened. “Why would they be watching for Rose Tyler?” He spoke in a low, deliberate voice.

Chloe shrugged, seemingly unconcerned with his anger. “Seems they got a tip that she was seen here with her bloke. Looking for a scoop.”

“You called the press?” he demanded.

“Wasn’t me!” she protested. “Honest!”

The Doctor believed her like he believed raindrops were angel tears. “Time to find another coffee shop,” he snapped. Chloe blanched and stuttered, reaching a hand towards him in a futile gesture to keep him from leaving.

“Hey!” someone shouted from another table. “That’s him!”

_“Dr. Dixon, are you dating Rose Tyler?”_  
_“Are you George Dixon?”_  
_“How long have you and Miss Tyler been a couple?”_  
_“Just how old are you, George?”_

The questions kept coming, and he gave Chloe a furious glare. Her eyes widened and she took a step back from the counter. 

“No comment,” he bit out. 

_“Don’t you think you’re too old for her?”_  
_”Do her parents approve of her dating such an older man?”_  
_”Do you think you’re really her type?”_  
_“Would you classify yours as a May-December relationship?”_

He repeated ‘No comment’ over and over, all the way back to his flat until he got in his car and revved the engine, forcing the pressing crowd of reporters to take a step back. He drove to work instead of his taking his usual leisurely walk, fuming all the way. 

~*~O~*~

Donna was on the phone when he entered the department office looking for coffee. 

“Look, Sunshine,” she snarked into the receiver, “you can shove your deadline up your arse. Dr. Dixon’s comment is ‘no comment’!” She slammed the phone down and looked over towards him. “Looks like news of you and Rose got out. Ruddy bastards have been ringing all morning.”

His eyes were dark and stormy, and Donna had never seen him quite so infuriated. He didn’t answer her, just grunted and turned back to his coffee. She stood and went to him, putting her hand on his shoulder. 

“You alright?”

“M’fine.”

“What happened?”

“Chloe. At the coffee shop. She called the media.”

Donna felt herself tense with anger. “That little bitch.”

He nodded. “I think much the same thing. Why the hell would she do that?”

“Because she thought if the two of you split over this, she could have a crack at you.”

He peered at her with flashing eyes. “You know this?”

“An educated guess, as someone who used to be a young woman with a crush.”

“You never - “

“No, I never stooped so low. But I imagine that’s why she did it.”

The Doctor brought one hand up to cover his eyes. “What the hell do I do, Donna?”

“You live your life. That’s what you do.” She was frank with him, straightening her own shoulders since he didn’t seem to be able to. “You can’t let this stop you from seeing Rose.”

“She didn’t want the tabloid attention. We’ve only ever gone to the pub because she didn’t want the two of us to get caught,” he moaned, sounding miserable. “And now this has happened, and she’s going to hate me.”

Donna snorted. “Not likely, mate. She’s mad about you.”

He shook his head, defeated. “I can’t do this to her. I can’t have photographers shoving and trying to get to her because of me.”

“No. What you _can't_ do is dictate her life. You need to let Rose make that decision.”

“No.”

“ _Yes,_ ” Donna insisted. “Because now that they have the story they’re going to follow the two of you around no matter what, whether you’re with her or not. Are you really going to let some git with a camera keep you from your love?”

“I bet it keeps her from me.”

“Right,” Donna scoffed. “You keep telling yourself that. And you’ll keep being wrong.”

~*~O~*~

“What the hell, Rose!” he demanded when he opened the door to his flat and saw her the next day. 

“I should be saying that to you! You haven’t returned my calls or texts, I’ve been worried sick!”

“M’alright. M’always alright.” He turned and walked away from the door, and she shut it behind her when she came in.

“That’s Doctor speak for ‘everything’s wrong and I’m miserable’. So what the hell did you mean by ‘what the hell’?”

“I mean this!” He picked up the red tops on his coffee table and flipped through them. “ _’Rose Tyler Dating Older Man’_ ,” he read, then tossed it down, reading another. “ _’The Vitex Heiress and the Professor, a Love Story’_. But this one’s my favorite,” he sneered, voice dripping with sarcasm. “ _’Rose Tyler’s May/December Romance’!_ ”

“Doctor,” she started, “I tried to warn you-”

“I know you did!” he shouted, throwing the two remaining papers down onto his couch. “But I didn’t think-”

“Didn’t think what?” she interrupted, growing angry. “Didn’t think I was telling the truth? Or that I wasn’t smart enough to know what was going to happen?”

“No, it’s not that, it’s-”

“What? We’ve been through something like this before, Doctor,” she reminded him. “Remember when we landed on that planet where you were a big celebrity?”

“Yes,” he groused. “That was different.”

“Different, how?”

“They weren’t following _you_ around then!”

Rose rocked back on her heels. “ _That’s_ what you’re worried about? Me?”

“Chloe sold us out. I don’t know what they paid her, if they did, but she ratted us out.” Rose saw the Oncoming Storm simmering just below the surface. “They’ve been sniffing around the uni, too. Some fuckwit in my Astronomy 103 class told them all about the day you found me. How we reunited in the middle of midterm review.” He paced back and forth in front of the windows in his lounge, and Rose was forcibly reminded of all the times he’d done the same thing around the TARDIS console. 

“They’re mocking you, Rose,” he went on. “They’re questioning your taste, saying you should be with a younger man, a better looking man.”

“I know that,” she sniffed, unconcerned. “They shouted it at me on the way in here.”

“Then why the fuck -”

“Don’t swear at me!” she snapped. “And you know why I’m here.” At his confused look, she went on. “I don’t give a shit what they think -”

“Now who’s swearing?” He crossed his arms and gave her a scowl that was somehow smug and again reminded her of their times on the TARDIS.

Rose was not in the mood for his superior attitude. “This is how it’s going to be for a while, Doctor, until they accept that we’re a couple and move on to the next juicy story.” She hesitated, and when she spoke again it was less heated, more unsure. “We _are_ still a couple, right?”

He relaxed, letting his arms drop and his face fall. “Oh, Rose,” he stammered, then shut his mouth and rushed over to her, taking her into his arms. “Of course we are.” 

She dropped her bag and threw her arms around him as well. “I don’t care what they say, Doctor. I don’t. I want to be _here_ , with _you_. And I’m prepared to deal with whatever consequences come with that. I can stand it if you can. I just want _you._ ”

“I want you, too, precious girl. Always have. Always will.”

“Is a little paparazzi attention worth it? For there to be an us, I mean.”

“I’ll do anything, Rose. Anything.”

“Then what’s the sodding problem?” she demanded, pulling back, tears in her eyes. “Why don’t you want me here?”

“You being here isn’t the problem. The press following _you_ around, crowding _you_ is the problem.”

“Pete assigned me a bodyguard for whenever I’m not with you until this dies down. He trusts you to keep me safe when I’m with you.” She grinned a little. “Mum may have had a hand in that.”

“Who?”

“Mum. She likes you now, believe it or not.”

“No, I meant who’d he assign to take care of you?”

“Oh! My friend Jake, from work. Well, I suppose he’s technically my boss, but he’s more of a friend. He drove me here, and he’ll be back tomorrow morning at eight to take me to work.” She gave him a tongue-touched grin. “So no funny business when we wake up that’ll make me late.”

She saw the flicker of humor in his eyes, then they darkened again. “Rose -”

Rose put her finger to his lips. “Stop right there. If you were about to tell me that we shouldn’t see each other, even for a while, I don’t want to hear it. I’m not giving up on you because some stupid reporters want salacious gossip. We haven’t done anything wrong, and we know it. We just need to be what we are. Eventually they’ll get bored. Our relationship is not their business.”

“The press has a funny idea about what is and isn’t their business,” he reminded her. 

“Well this is decidedly _not_ ,” she declared with a steely voice. She was quiet for a minute, then spoke up. “But I did talk to the head of PR at Vitex.”

“Why?”

“Same reason Pete did when we first got here. Wanted to know how to deal with the media attention, what we should do.”

“What did the PR advisor - whose job it is to sell Vitex, I might add - have to say?”

Rose gave him a sour look at his tone, then let it fall away. “She said to give them the story. To sit down with Lifestyle magazine and give them the interview they want.”

“Of course she did.” The Doctor threw up his hands and turned away from her. “That’s just bloody fantastic.”

“It worked last time!” Rose defended. “The media attention was much less once they realized that only one journalist was going to get the scoop.”

“I never dreamed...in all my 900 years, Rose, I never dreamed that I’d be the object of media attention like this. When it happened on Gharusa Prime, I figured it was a fluke. The Jinglatheen were up to no good, remember?”

“All too well.”

“But they - the press - didn’t pester you there. You were safe from them. I never thought they’d be after _you_.”

“How can I make this better, Doctor? What will make this okay?”

“I don’t want to do an interview, that’s for bloody sure.” He walked to the couch and pulled her into his lap. “It’s not that I care what they say about me, or even if they follow me around. I mean,” he amended, “I _care_ , but that’s not the important thing here.”

“Then what is?”

“I worry about them hurting you,” he confessed, putting his head on her shoulder. “Either with their words, or actually roughing you up.”

“Dad has already been in touch with the President about enacting privacy laws for media targets. Stuff like ‘they can’t come within fifty yards’.”

“It’s not enough,” the Doctor grumbled. “What if they break the laws and you get hurt?”

“Doctor,” she cupped his face, feeling the scratch of his beard in her palm. “If they do, we’ll deal with that then.” Rose dropped her hand and laced her fingers with him in a loose grip. “I’ve got Torchwood training now, remember? I can take care of myself.”

“I know,” he admitted miserably. “Can’t help it. I just worry.”

She gave him a cheeky grin. “That’s the mark of a good bloke.”

He raised his head and kissed her softly. “Do you want to stop seeing me?”

Rose chuckled. “Not bloody likely. Just said so, didn’t I? I want to see you as much as you’ll let me.”

“All the time, then,” he conceded, and this time, when she cupped his cheek she kissed him, slowly, thoroughly. He sighed and lay his head against her chest, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

He was quiet for a long time, and when he spoke, it surprised her. “Let’s do the interview.”

“We don’t have to. It’ll be okay, Doctor. After a time it’ll all go away and just pop up every now and then.” They sat together quietly for a minute, then Rose spoke up. “Did we just have our first row?”

The Doctor laughed a little at that. “We’ve rowed before, Rose.”

“I mean our first row as _us_. As...what’d the tabloids call us?” She reached over and picked up one of the papers. “There it is. They’re calling us ‘DoctorTyler’.”

He snorted. “‘DoctorTyler.’ Not very original is it?” He pulled her a little closer. “Yeah, we just had our first row. And I’m sorry. I know you’re a grown woman and can take care of yourself, I just...I can’t stand to see you hurt.”

“I’m not hurt, Doctor.”

“And I’m not going to let some stupid damn journalists come between us.”

Rose nuzzled his neck. “Good.”

“So what now?”

“We act like any other couple," she smiled. "We go to dinner, we take walks, we go to the cinema,” she lowered her voice to a whisper and kissed his ear. “We make love.”

Rose was disappointed when he didn’t take the bait and drag her off to the bedroom right away. Instead he said, “So now that the story is out there, you want to go out on the town with me?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? The cat’s out of the bag now, no point in staying home anymore.”

“But they’ll follow us.”

“Think of it this way: there’ll likely be some lovely pictures of us snogging.” She gave him a tongue-touched smile. “We can start a scrapbook of our greatest hits.”

“That’s not funny, Rose.”

“Really? I thought it was.”

He lay his head on her chest again and she stroked the back of his head. After a minute, he spoke. “I meant it. I’ll do the interview if you want me to. I’ll play nice and be the perfect bloke. But I don’t want to.”

“Then we won’t,” she said, as if it were the most simple thing in the world. “We won’t do anything you don’t want.”

“I don’t want to share you with the rest of the world.”

“Well, you can’t help that. I’m a celebrity, like it or not. But,” she tipped his chin up so that he was looking at her. “Even if you have to share me with the world in a way, you don’t _really_ have to share me with anyone. M’all yours, Doctor.”

She didn’t have time to react before his mouth crashed into hers. 

~*~O~*~

The Doctor had finally dragged her off to bed, just as she’d hoped. He’d fallen asleep curled around her after they made love for the second time that evening. His mouth was pressed against the nape of her neck, his nose buried in her hair, one arm under her head and the other slung across her waist with a hand splayed over her belly, in the position that had become so familiar to them when they shared a bed. Rose tried to relax - she _wanted_ to relax, but she couldn’t. 

The threat of the paparazzi had shaken Rose. She hated the fact that the Doctor was being dragged into the fray alongside her, hated that he was being treated so despicably by the press. 

Guilt clawed at her. The tenacity of the paparazzi made her realize that nothing was truly confidential. If they ever found out about her work at Torchwood... things she'd never bothered to tell the Doctor... things she didn't know how to tell the Doctor...

The Doctor didn't know about the dimension cannon project. She’d never told him, and over the last couple of weeks with him she’d stopped thinking about it so much. Her meetings with Dr. Fine had trickled almost to a stop. Rose had been surprised when she realized that she was okay with that. She felt guilty for not telling him, but what would be the point? The cannon was a longshot at best and she didn’t know how she felt about that anymore.

Being in this life, with this Doctor, was wonderful. She loved it. She loved _him_. She'd never expected herself to be happy here, on Pete’s World. She'd expected to be miserable. But she was unexpectedly, blissfully happy. 

Rose had wanted a relationship with the Doctor for years. She’d been happy with their ‘best mates’ status, but she’d longed for more. And now she had it. She had the Doctor, gloriously naked, breathing against her neck. 

He made her happy and all she wanted was to make him happy right back. Rose knew that the paparazzi was going to be a thorn in their side, but she had told the Doctor the absolute truth: she was more than willing to deal with it if it meant she got to be with him. 

She couldn’t help but wonder, though, what would happen when she told him about the cannon. Would that tear them apart? She didn’t think she could stand the thought.

The Doctor stirred a little and mumbled something against the back of her neck. Rose smiled; even though she hadn’t been able to understand him, she’d understood clearly that it was something sweet and directed to her. 

Right now, here in this very moment, she had everything she’d ever wanted. 

Except, perhaps, the stars. 

She fell asleep contemplating that trade-off.


	14. Celebrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wedding and a party.

“Mum’s pregnant,” Rose said without preamble when the Doctor opened the door three weeks later. “They’re going to announce it at the Christmas party.”

She stepped into his arms, and he wrapped them around her snugly after he shut the door. 

“Are you alright, love?”

She nodded against his chest. “Worried about Mum. A little shell-shocked. They’ve decided to get re-married the day of the party, just family and close friends, then announce that night at the party.”

“I thought they were already married on this world?”

“No, the first Jackie was declared legally dead, so they need to get married again. Mum’s excited.”

He led her into the kitchen, and the two set about making tea. After something like a year on the TARDIS and two months together as a proper couple, they had each other’s routines down pat and worked together easily. They didn’t need to speak. When they were done, they brought their mugs over to the table and had a seat.

“You sure you’re alright?”

Rose shrugged. “S’a bit of a shock.”

“I imagine so.”

“Would you go to the wedding with me, and maybe the Christmas party as well?”

He gave her a cheeky grin. "You askin' me to be your plus one, Rose Tyler?"

"Maybe..." She stuck her tongue between her teeth and looked at him from beneath her lashes. 

“Be happy to. Was waiting for you to ask, me.”

Rose looked sheepish. “I wanted to ask you, but I didn’t think you’d want to go.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“It’s kind of a ball. There’ll be dancing and stuff. I know you don’t dance…”

He sat back in his chair, frustrated. “There you go again, Rose Tyler, assuming I don’t dance. Danced with you after the Blitz, didn’t I?”

“That was different, and it was only the once.”

He peered at her and did his best to keep the worry, hurt and fear out of his voice. “Don’t you want me there? Are you ashamed of me?”

“You’re being daft, Doctor. Of course I’m not, and I’d love for you to come. I really want you to. I just didn’t think you’d want to.”

“It’s a Saturday night with you, Rose. ‘Course I want to be there.”

“You know that it’s this weekend, right?”

“I know.” 

“Donna and I went shopping yesterday,” she told him. “Picked out a great dress. I think you’ll love it.”

“If you’re wearing it, Rose Tyler, I know I will.” He took a sip of his tea. “Your mum and Pete excited?”

Rose shrugged. “They’re both excited to be getting married again, although they had planned on doing it later, in the spring. Pete is really excited about the baby. Says he always wanted a child and now he’ll have two - me and the new baby. Mum is a little worried, I think because of her age.”

“Women her age have healthy babies all the time. Life doesn’t stop because you’re thirty-five, or forty.”

Rose gave him a little, cheeky grin. “You would know. How old did you say the TARDIS made you? Forty-three?”

“Oi!” he scowled at her. “M’thirty-eight. Thirty-nine in February.”

Rose laughed, then brought her mug to her lips, grinning. “Turns out I have a thing for older men.”

“Do you now?”

“Mmhm. If you believe everything you read in the tabloids.”

He grinned at her teasing, he just couldn’t help himself. She was so damned cute. 

“Oh? And what do those rags have to say? Any older man in particular?” he teased in return. 

“Well,” she set her mug down, “apparently, there’s one who’s caught my eye. Handsome bloke. A doctor.”

“A doctor!” He feigned surprise. “Doctor of what?”

“Oh, this and that,” she smirked. “But sounds like he’s brilliant. Perfect. Just my type.”

“I’m sure he considers himself damned lucky.”

“‘Course he does. He’s very lucky.” She winked with her tongue between her teeth and he laughed. 

“Damned lucky, indeed.” Changing the subject, he said, “So! Saturday we’ll see your parents get married - again - then go to a Christmas party at your parents’ mansion. How formal?”

Rose took another sip of her tea. “It’s black-tie.”

He groaned, and she asked him what was wrong. “Nothing good ever happens to me in a tuxedo. Something awful always happens. Plus, it’s a bloody monkey suit. Trussing me up like a penguin, you are,” he ribbed her.

She reached across and took his hand in hers. “I’ll be there with you. That can’t be so bad, right?”

He grumbled good-naturedly, but turned his hand so that their fingers threaded together. No, it wouldn’t be so bad if she were there with him. And even if it were going to be literal torture, he’d go just to be with her.

“So I need to come to your parents’ house a couple hours earlier for the wedding?”

“That’s the plan,” she said. “The paparazzi will be there, but I doubt they'll be worried about Rose Tyler's lucky older bloke. Especially considering that Mum and Dad are getting married, and then when they get wind of what they’re going to announce...”

She had a point, and the knowledge that they may have a night’s respite was soothing. 

“So, are we still going out for dinner tonight? Or would you rather stay in?”

“Stay in, if you don’t mind. We can go out tomorrow. I’m a bit frazzled by the news of the baby. Those tossers shouting at us will just make me completely mental.”

He stood and came around the table to kiss her forehead. “There are menus in that drawer there,” he pointed. “Order whatever you like, and we’ll stay in together tonight. Whatever my Rose wants.”

~*~O~*~

They lay together after love, boneless and sated. The Doctor sat up a little to retrieve the duvet from the bottom of the bed, seeking to ward off the chill. No matter how much he ran the heat, it was still December and it was chilly in his flat. He lay back down after covering them and pulled her close. 

“That was nice,” Rose murmured against his chest, bringing one hand to cover his heart. 

“Nice? I’ll have you know that _that_ was very impressive.”

She giggled and slipped a leg over his. “Yes, it was. You’re always very impressive, Doctor.” 

He smiled, a little smug, then sobered as a thought he’d been mulling over popped into his mind. 

“Rose?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t you ever miss our old life?”

She let out a sigh, and he wasn’t sure how to interpret it. He stroked her back while he waited for her to explain. 

“Yeah, I do sometimes. I miss visiting the stars. I miss stepping out of the TARDIS into brand new worlds. I miss the TARDIS herself terribly. But…” she paused, and he waited her out, “I love what we have now. I love that we’re together now. I love that we’re us. I love that you’re here and I’m here. That’s what really matters.”

He kissed the top of her hair. “I love it, too.” _I love_ you _, Rose Tyler,_ sprung to his lips, but he bit it back. 

He was quiet for a moment, just enjoying the feel of her in his arms. 

“Let’s go away for a while. Let’s take a holiday,” he suggested.

She raised her head to look at him. “You mean it?”

“No reason we can’t travel here,” he replied. “There are wonders all over Earth that we could explore, and keep busy for years and years.”

“Where would you want to go?” she asked. 

He shrugged. “I promised you Barcelona, didn’t I? There won’t be any dogs without noses there, but it’s still a lovely city. Or we could go to Paris, see the fireworks by the Eiffel Tower at New Year’s. Whatever you want, Rose Tyler. Lots of places to choose from.”

“I’m not sure where I’d want to go. I never really thought about it.”

“We can go to all of them, see everything, then go back to some if we like them. Let’s go to the Caribbean sometime. Somewhere warm. We’ll spend some time in Cancun, and if you want, we’ll go see the Mayan ruins.”

“Alright, then,” she smiled, and lengthened her body to kiss him. The kiss turned heated when he breached her mouth and she whimpered. 

“Let’s leave and fly somewhere Christmas Day. Somewhere fantastic,” he murmured when they broke apart, both a little breathless. “We’ll go somewhere for a week, and come back just after New Year’s.”

“I don’t want to miss Christmas with Mum and Pete.” 

“So we’ll leave that night. We can sleep on the plane.”

She looked thoughtful. “The paparazzi might even leave us alone if we go somewhere,” she mused. “We’re big news in Britain, but I don’t think we are anywhere else.” 

“All the more reason,” he confirmed. “Maybe I’ll take you to Paris for Valentine’s Day, a few weeks later.”

“For Valentine’s Day, or for your birthday?” she gave him a cheeky grin.

“Why not both?”

“Alright, Doctor, you’re on. We’ll leave Christmas night, and go find an adventure.”

“Oh, you want adventure, Rose Tyler?” He rolled her underneath him. “I’ll give you adventure.”

~*~O~*~

Unlike the first time she saw her parents marry, Rose was an active participant this time. She walked down the short aisle in the mansion’s spacious parlor with her mother, and held the bouquet while the vows were spoken. The wedding was a simple-but-elegant affair in shades of ivory and black, and the guests were all in their formal party attire for later that evening. Jackie wore an off-white sheath embroidered in gold with a matching jacket. Rose wore a black cocktail dress, gathered at the waist with a decorative, gold button.

As Rose had predicted, when she came down the aisle the Doctor had looked at her as if he was barely refraining from shagging her rotten. She'd blushed under his gaze, pleased.

She cast furtive glances at him during the ceremony - he usually hated this type of thing - but he seemed content to be there. She relaxed. 

After the wedding, they all gathered in the dining room to enjoy some nibbles and wedding cake. The Doctor sidled up beside her once the pictures were done and slipped an arm around her waist. 

She lay her head against his chest for a moment, slipping her arms around his waist as well. “Thank you for coming.”

“You wanted me here, so I came. Wouldn’t have missed it.”

“I’m so glad you did.”

“Not many people get the chance to watch their parents get married, much less twice. You’re lucky.” 

“And I have you to thank for both times.” She stood on tiptoe, even in heels, to kiss him. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, Rose Tyler.”

“Hold it!” someone said behind them. Rose turned her head and the wedding photographer snapped a picture. 

“Oi!” Rose protested. “We weren’t ready for that!”

“I know,” the photographer said. “It was a candid shot. Would you prefer a better one?”

Rose looked up at the Doctor in his tuxedo, looking absolutely edible, and she knew that she’d love to have an image of him like this forever. He shrugged. She nodded at the photographer. “Yeah. Think I would.”

“Right, then. Stay facing each other, but Rose, reach up to adjust his tie. No, with one hand. Keep the other around him. George, you’re exactly right.”

Rose snickered. “It makes me giggle when people call you ‘George’,” she muttered. 

“A bit of hush,” he admonished. “Trying to look worthy of you, here.” 

She kissed his cheek. “You’re more than worthy.”

“Rose, look back at me,” the photographer said. Rose turned her head over her shoulder and thought of the man holding her, how he made her feel. A soft smile lit her features.

The camera clicked a handful of times.

“Perfect,” the photographer said. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” Rose replied, then turned back to the Doctor, smoothing his lapels just for the pleasure of touching him. “The party is in two hours, and I need to go get my gown on.”

“You’re not wearing this one?”

“Oh, no. This was just for Mum’s wedding. Black isn’t exactly a celebratory color for Christmas, is it? I bought a Christmas dress special for tonight.”

The Doctor sighed. “I’ll never understand you, Rose Tyler,” he complained.

“Fun to try, though, innit?” She put her tongue at the corner of her mouth and he took the bait, bending to kiss her soundly. She was flustered when he pulled back from her.

“You’re loads of fun, no matter what you’re wearing.”

She stood on her toes again, pulling him closer to whisper in his ear. “I’m especially fun when I’m wearing nothing, right?”

He growled a little and she giggled, coming down from her toes. 

“You’re going to be the death of me, woman.”

“I hope not,” she said, more serious than she’d intended, then perked up with a smile. “Think you can entertain yourself for an hour and a half while I get dressed?”

“It still takes you an hour and a half to get dressed? I thought you spent all that time on the TARDIS just deciding what to wear!”

She snickered. “Nope. It takes me that long to get beautiful.”

“Now that’s just rubbish,” he glowered down at her with soft eyes. “You’re beautiful in whatever you wear.”

“Thank you, love.” She bit her lip when she realized that she’d let the endearment slip, but she didn’t want to take it back. “So, can you wait ninety minutes?”

“Yes, I’m sure there are other guests here who’ll talk to me.” He gave her another cheeky grin. “Sure you don’t need any help?”

“If you come up there, I’ll never get dressed.”

“That’s my point,” he murmured into her ear.

She swatted at his arm, playfully. “You’re insatiable, you are.”

“You love it.”

 _I love you,_ she thought, but stopped herself just in time. “I do,” she said instead. 

“Go,” he shooed her. “Be gone. Do what needs doing, then come back to me.”

“I always do.”

~*~O~*~

The Doctor had, in fact, found other wedding guests who were waiting around for the Christmas party to start and were more than happy to talk to him: most notably, a fellow professor from another university, Bob Ripley. Ripley taught history, and the Doctor took the opportunity to try and suss out more differences between this Earth’s history and the history of the Earth he was more acquainted with.

The guests for the Christmas party who had not attended the wedding started arriving approximately thirty minutes before the party was due to start, and the Doctor found himself being introduced to the President - Harriet Jones - by Pete. He was positively champing at the bit to tell her that he’d met her in a parallel dimension, but of course he couldn’t.

“Dr. Dixon,” she smiled warmly, shaking his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Harriet Jones, President.”

“Yes, I know who you are. And it’s an honor, ma’am." He released her hand. 

“I’ve seen you in the papers, of course.”

The Doctor cringed a bit. “Yes ma’am. Seem to be a bit of a target lately, me.”

“You get used to it,” she assured him. “After a while, you just learn to make sure there’s nothing in your teeth, then go on about your business.”

The Doctor laughed, and Harriet looked over his shoulder. “She really is a lovely girl,” she declared. 

He turned around to follow Harriet's gaze and sorely missed his respiratory bypass in that moment. What he saw took his breath away. 

Rose wore a long, red, velvet gown, perfectly fitted to accentuate every curve. Rhinestones accented the top of the dress, on her bodice and the tops of her long sleeves, leaving her perfect, creamy shoulders bare for anyone’s view. She’d twisted her hair into a complicated, loose bun and a few tendrils framed her lovely face. Dangling, diamond earrings were the only jewelry she wore. 

Harriet Jones grinned at the gobsmacked look on his face. “Beautiful in looks and temperament, from what little I’ve had the pleasure to be around her. I’m so glad her mother found her.”

“Me, too,” the Doctor muttered, barely registering what the President was saying. His eyes were fixed on the goddess - _his_ goddess - descending the stairs.

She was, quite simply, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. She could have any man in the room with a little crook of her finger and...blimey...she was walking straight toward him with a brilliant smile. He didn’t think he’d ever get over that feeling, the feeling of being the one she chose.

“Hiya,” she greeted him casually, unaware of the effect she had on him. When she kissed his cheek, he had the presence of mind to kiss her cheek as well instead of taking her into his arms and snogging her senseless in the middle of the crowd of dignitaries. 

“Madam President, hi!” She seemed to catch herself and offered, “So nice to see you again,” Rose extended her hand. The Doctor slipped his arm around her waist as the two ladies made small talk, but he wasn’t able to pay much attention. His eyes were only for Rose. 

When Harriet Jones was called away, the Doctor turned to Rose. “You look...you look stunning, Rose.”

She beamed up at him. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“Go change.”

She blinked, confused. “What?”

“Go change. Every man in this place tonight is going to be ogling you.”

Rose made an indelicate sound. “And what about you?”

“I’ll be ogling you, too.”

Rose giggled. “That’s not what I meant, daftie.”

“Oh?”

She smiled up at him, feeling her tongue peek out. “I meant _you’re_ likely the one to be getting ogled. Dead sexy, you are.”

It was the Doctor’s turn to snort. “You’ve gone mad.”

“Mad about you, Doctor.”

He looked down at her with something in his eyes that she couldn’t place, something like incredulity mixed with adoration, but Rose held his gaze. She wanted him to see the truth in what she was saying.

“That so?” he inquired, his voice barely above a whisper.

“That’s so.” 

He bent down to give her a kiss, just a light brushing of his lips against her forehead. “Thank you. Now, go change. I don’t fancy killing a man in your mum and dad’s parlor. Your Mum will surely slap me then.”

Rose beamed up at him, loving this hint of jealousy and possessiveness he was displaying. “Don’t think so. The dress stays on, and you'll just have to behave yourself. Jealous old sod.”

“I’m _your_ jealous old sod.”

“Quite right.”

~*~O~*~

There was dancing, and the Doctor wasted no time in dragging Rose to the middle of the dance floor in the Tyler’s ballroom and into his arms, feeling compelled to prove to her that he was more than happy to dance with her. It helped to forestall anyone else asking for her hand, as well. She smiled brilliantly at him, and he wondered for a moment if his knees would support him. 

The music played, and he let it wash over them. 

_Everyone asks ‘are we some kind of lovers?’_  
_Everyone asks what you’re doing with me_  
_I know this is not what they want, they’re afraid you’ve been blinded_  
_But I already know how it’s going to be_

“Fitting song,” Rose said with a cheeky grin. 

“I thought so,” he replied. 

_Nobody else understands what I’m doing_  
_Nobody else makes me act in this way_  
_And because they can’t comprehend what we mean to each other_  
_They won’t leave you alone so you know what to say_

“You really are stunning, Rose.”

“For a human?”

“For anyone. You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in nine hundred years.”

She laughed. “Now, I _know_ that’s not true. Think of all the things we’ve seen and done.”

“And none of them compare with you,” he told her, honesty dripping from every word. “Dammit! I wish I could take you back out into the stars.”

“I don’t need the stars. I just need you.” 

He ached to tell her just what she meant to him, just how much he loved her, but he bent and kissed her cheek instead. 

“No proper snog?” Rose asked, her voice saucy. 

“I’m trying to behave myself.”

“That’s no fun,” she pouted.

“Minx.”

_If anyone should ask, say we’re mated_  
_For as long as this life lasts, we are mated_  
_Why else would I be here right now?_  
_And you know I’ll still be here tomorrow…_

He twirled her around the floor, looking nowhere but in her eyes, her whisky-colored eyes that looked back up at him with pure adoration, and recognized that he was the luckiest bastard alive, in any dimension.

_I see things far ahead, maybe light, maybe beautiful children_  
_I don’t have the words I’m thinking of, but it’s way beyond what they call ‘love’_

The Doctor pondered on those lines and the accuracy of them. He had always tried to refrain from looking at timelines when it came to Rose, and now that ability was severely dampened. But he felt in the very marrow of his bones that they were meant to be. The TARDIS had sent him here to find her, and he had. Now they were together. Being a Time Lord and having the knowledge he did, he’d always known that while people’s decisions could change their fates, there _was_ such a thing as fate: Occasions in time that were fixed, unchanging.

He’d spent his time on the TARDIS with Rose believing that she was untouchable. That she would never be for him. 

But now, in the ballroom of the Tyler mansion, he held her in his arms and believed that she just may be a fixed point in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song the Doctor and Rose danced to is old, old, old, but it's one of my all-time favorite songs. Easily top three. It's called "Mated."  
> The Doctor and Rose's photograph at the wedding inspired by [this amazing manip!](http://hellostarlight20.tumblr.com/post/140853165249/illusion-divine-the-doctor-and-his-rose)  
> [Rose's dress.](http://g02.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1mrL4IXXXXXaSXVXXq6xXFXXXf/Sexy-2016-Mermaid-Long-Sleeves-Wine-font-b-Red-b-font-font-b-Velvet-b-font.jpg)  
> [Jackie's dress.](http://c.shld.net/rpx/i/s/pi/mp/21584/prod_2551861609?src=http%3A%2F%2Fi1149.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fo583%2FFormalDressShops1%2F984_champagne.jpg&d=8aac197fa38b88aafbe273f681e2f4e986d83f90&hei=345&wid=345&op_sharpen=1&qlt=85)
> 
>  
> 
> Coming up on Wednesday...the Christmas party continues!


	15. Claim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the Christmas party, the Doctor finds Rose with a rival and reacts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is non-con kissing at the beginning of this chapter. 
> 
> Please note the ratings change from M to E. This chapter necessitated it. 
> 
> If you have a thing for hot, dominant, possessive Nine, then I have a treat for you.
> 
> *posts, then runs and hides*

Rose had gotten warm while they were dancing and told the Doctor she was parched. He’d offered to get a glass of champagne for her, then dropped a sweet, scratchy kiss on her cheek and gone off to seek one of the servers circulating around the party. Rose wandered a bit, drifting over to the side of the room while she waited for him to return.

“You look absolutely delectable.”

She spun around to see who was talking, and was unsurprised to find Kevin leering at her. “Kevin.” She struggled to maintain her composure, forcing a smile. “Nice to see you.”

“Likewise,” he told her, his eyes raking her up and down. “Here alone, are you?”

She repressed a shudder. “No, the Doctor - George - has just gone to get us drinks.”

He scoffed. “No offense, but you could do better, you know.”

Rose was shocked at first, then straightened her shoulders. “I’m fine, ta.”

“Are you?” he quirked a brow. “How could you be, with a man twice your age?”

She was seething, and getting angrier with every word he said. “I just am. Don’t have to explain it to _you_ ,” she snarled, clinging with both hands to propriety and the knowledge that she was in her parent’s house along with the President, members of Parliament, and the bloody gentry. She fought down the urge to give him the smack he so deserved. She couldn’t. Not right now. 

“You should think on it, though,” Kevin preened, flicking an imaginary speck of lint from the sleeve of his tuxedo. “A younger man, like myself, could probably make you much happier.”

Rose gave an indelicate snort. “Not bloody likely.”

He gave her a lascivious grin then flicked his eyes up. “Shall I prove it, then? Look above you.”

She raised her eyes and was horrified to find that she was standing under a sprig of mistletoe. Just as she lowered her eyes to tell him not to even _think_ about it, she found herself trapped in his arms, his lips pressing hard against hers, his tongue forcing its way into her mouth.

~*~O~*~

For such a posh to-do, the Doctor had a harder time than he would have expected tracking down a waiter with drinks. When he finally did, he selected two flutes of champagne and turned to go back to his Rose.

His Rose, who was currently in the arms of another man, being thoroughly kissed. 

Wrath like he hadn’t known on this Earth welled up within him and he stomped toward her. Somewhere in the back of his mind - in some remote part of his brain that wasn’t seeing mauve - he noted that she was stiff and pushing at the bloke. Didn’t matter. 

“Excuse me,” he snarled when he reached them, making no attempt to keep the fury from his voice. “Am I interrupting something?”

The man released Rose and with a surge of rage, the Doctor recognized him as Kevin, her arsehole associate from work. 

Rose stepped back from the man to stand right beside the Doctor, wiping her mouth in disgust. Though the Doctor barely spared her a glance he was sure that if looks could kill, between he and Rose, the man would be a distant memory. 

“Dr. Dixon,” Kevin smiled, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe away the lipstick left on his lips. “Good to see you, old chap.”

Without looking at her the Doctor handed Rose the glasses of champagne and stepped towards Kevin, leaving very little distance between them. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides and he struggled to keep his temper from claiming the tatters of his good sense.

“You don’t know me,” he informed Kevin in a low voice, “but I’m a very powerful man. The only reason I am not ripping you apart right now is out of respect for Pete and Jackie and the fact that Rose wouldn’t want me to. But I’m warning you now, _Calvin_ : if you _ever_ touch Rose again, if you ever try to put any part of your body on her again, if you ever even _look_ at her with anything other than professional interest, I will not be so kind as I am right now. Are we understood?”

Kevin merely smirked at him, apparently unaware of just who he was being dismissive to. “Right-o, _old_ fellow,” he jibed. “I would just recommend that you prepare yourself for heartbreak. Rose needs a man who can…” The younger man gave the Doctor an appraising, up-and-down look. “...satisfy her. She’ll grow bored with the novelty of an older man soon enough, when you can’t keep up with her.”

The Doctor clenched and unclenched his fists, then turned to Rose, pulling the champagne glasses from her hand and setting them down before taking her hand. “You. Come with me,” he commanded with a growl, pulling her away from Kevin’s smug smile.

They climbed the steps, the Doctor taking two at a time and Rose holding the front of her dress away from her feet, fighting against her precariously high heels and the close fit of her gown, trying to keep up. He knew that he should slow down for her, knew she must be struggling to keep up with him, but he couldn’t care. He was being driven by anger and need at the moment.

When they reached the top of the stairs he looked from one side to the other and barked, “Where?”

“My room,” she told him, and she sounded a little breathless. 

_Oh, she was going to be breathless, alright._

He dragged her down the hall to her bedroom and pulled her inside, closing and locking the door behind her. He stomped to the middle of the room, anger clouding his judgement and thinking, and turned to her. Her eyes were wide and fearful and something within him recoiled from the sight of her afraid, but jealousy had a hold of him and he raged at her.

“ _What the fuck, Rose_? How could you kiss him like that?”

Rose blanched and her eyes narrowed at his words. Hewas gratified to see that he’d struck a nerve. 

“What?” she demanded in a low voice. “What did you just say to me?”

He ignored her flashing amber eyes and clenched jaw and plunged ahead. “I said, ‘ _how. could. you. kiss. another. man. like. that._ ’?” spelling it out slowly in a growl.

“How _dare_ you?” she hissed, her expression frighteningly similar to his ‘Oncoming Storm’ look but somehow even more terrifying. “ _How dare you!_ ”

He took a step back and crossed his arms, heedless of danger. “Just like this, that’s how I dare.”

She snarled, looking up at him with just the sort of heat in her eyes that he _didn’t_ like to see. 

“After you… After… You _fucking snogged_ Madame de _fucking_ Pompadour, and you have the unmitigated _balls_ to ask me how I could _dare_ kiss another man?” she spat, stalking towards him with balled fists.

Anger dissipated and gave way to confusion. “I did what?”

She jabbed him in the chest with one finger, startling him into letting his arms drop. “You _snogged_ Madame de Pompadour in France, _bragged_ about it, then _left me_ on a broken-down shitheap of a ship for five-and-a-half _fucking_ hours with Mickey and no way home while you rode off to save _her_ on your noble steed!”

“I did no such thing!” he shouted. “I’ve never met Reinette Poiss- ah,” deflating when realization dawned. “That happened after I transgenerated.”

“Yeah,” Rose mocked him. “It happened after you transgenerated. The very day _after_ you rubbed Sarah Jane in my face. _And_ said you’d never leave me.”

“ _I_ didn’t do that! None of it!”

She let out a laugh, devoid of mirth. “Well you just tell me, then, Time Lord. Are you the same man or aren’t you?”

He growled low in his throat, and backed her against the wall. “ _He_ did that, _I_ didn’t. I would never do such a thing. I never want to kiss another woman as long as I live. _Never_!”

Rose was not cowed by the storm in his eyes. “Well _the Doctor_ did that. He did that to me.” He saw angry tears, leftover hurt spilling from her eyes. She was much quieter when she spoke again. “He did that to me.” She gathered her voice again. “And _I_ didn’t kiss Kevin. I was trying to get away.”

He knew that. He’d seen her. He knew his anger was misdirected, but that didn’t stop him from stepping to her, crowding her. “I saw,” he allowed.

“Then what the hell is your problem, Doctor?”

He leaned over her, bringing his face very close, hovering just above her. “He thought he could touch you, thought he could take you away from me. He thinks that you’ll be his one day. But you won’t. You’re _mine_.” His lips crashed into hers. 

His tongue sought entry and she immediately complied, giving as good as she got. He pulled back after a moment, growling into her neck while she clutched at his shoulders. “The bastard left his scent on you. I can smell him. I can _taste_ him on you.”

“I’m not his,” she panted. “I’m yours.”

Something feral and wild sparked within him with those words and he nipped at her bare shoulder, pulling at her velvet-encased hips even as he pressed forward, letting her feel his reaction to her. “You’re damned right you are. And I’m going to show you, going to show the whole world.”

“Doctor, we can’t. The party…”

“Fuck the party,” he muttered against her throat. “I’ve got a better idea.”

He reached down to the skirt of her dress, pulling and bunching it up until he could slip his hand under it and between her legs, finding her bare and slick. 

“No knickers, Rose?” he taunted just before he captured her earlobe between his teeth. “How very naughty.”

“Didn’t want… _oh_...didn’t want a pantyline.”

“Oh, I’m going to put plenty of lines on this beautiful dress. I’m going to fuck you right here against this wall, and then when I’m done, I’m going to fuck you on your bed until you’re screaming. You’ll know whose you are when I’m done with you, Rose Tyler,” he promised her, his lips moving against the skin just above her bodice. “There won’t be any doubt.”

She pulled him by the ears until his face was level with hers. “There isn’t any doubt now,” she told him. 

He was overcome by the sheer need to possess, to claim. To leave no doubt in _anyone’s_ mind who she belonged to and with. The Doctor made a low, guttural sound and caught her mouth with his again. He thrust two fingers into her, finding her wet and wanting already, and when she opened her mouth against his with a gasp he invaded that, too. He let his tongue mimic the actions of his fingers, plunging and retreating, faster and faster, until she was whimpering.

“Please…”

“Say it, Rose.”

“I’m yours. I’m all yours, just _please_ …”

“Please what?”

“ _Please fuck me_.”

“Whatever my lady wants…” He smirked, and used his free hand to undo his belt then the button on his trousers. He shoved them down, not letting up his hand’s assault even as the belt clacked against the parquet floor. When he was bare, he removed his fingers and used both hands to shove her dress up over her waist, then pulled on the backs of her thighs until she jumped up. He wasted no time on foreplay, slamming his cock into her waiting heat as soon as she was open to him. 

“So hot, Rose. So hot and wet and fucking _tight_...”

Rose moaned, throwing her head back and exposing her throat, winding her legs tight around his waist. He didn’t refuse the invitation that the bare skin of her neck offered, bringing his mouth down to lick and suck there even as he began to pound into her. With a low sound rumbling from his throat, he pulled the neckline of her dress down, revealing her breasts. The sight was just as tantalizing to him as it always was, just as mouth-watering, and he adjusted his hold on her so that he could palm one while he moved his mouth down to the other. 

“ _These_ ,” he nipped at her left breast and squeezed the right one, “are mine. _This_ ,” he thrust into her with the word, leaving no doubt what he was referring to, “is _mine_. You. Are. _Mine_.”

“Yes! Yes! I’m yours, Doctor, all yours!”

He released her breast with a nip of his teeth and a wet pop, trailing his mouth up until he reached her pulse point, where he took pleasure in the rapid flutter of her pulse under his tongue. “Say it again, Rose.”

“I’m yours, only yours, _oooh_ please…more... _fuck!_ Yes!”

He sped up, snapping his hips into her as she cried out his name; demands, pleas, and filth dropping from her mouth until she bit down on his tuxedoed shoulder. He felt the dig of her high heels in his bum and it drove him to go faster, harder, until he was nearly breathless from the exertion. 

“Again.”

“Yours! Oh, _fuck_ , right there...I’m yours!”

He brought his hand between them, slipping it under the folds of her dress and found her clit with the practiced ease of a man who had explored her thoroughly and knew his territory. He ignored the high-pitched squeal Rose made when he touched her there, setting his fingers to work stroking her in a tight spiral. She keened in his ear but he didn’t let up in his assault, intensifying it instead, flicking and rubbing the little bundle of nerves quickly while she clawed at his shoulders, tightened herself around his cock, and called him a god. 

“Come for me, Rose. Come for me. Only for me. You’re mine.”

She did, her walls clenching around him, wailing her release with her head thrown back. 

Ignoring his own drive to finish, he slowed down, working her through her orgasm while she fluttered and clenched around him. When her breathing calmed a bit the Doctor, true to his word, awkwardly walked her the few steps to her bed, cock still buried in her, then tossed her down onto the soft surface.

“On your knees,” he commanded. Rose scrabbled against the duvet and wrestled with the skirt of her gown to comply. As soon as she was in the position he wanted her, he flipped her skirt up and exposed her bum, palming her cheeks in each hand, kneading her and taking in the sight of her bent and bare to him, her juices still glistening.

“You’re mine,” he grunted, and before she had a chance to respond he was taking her again, driving himself towards completion, in and out, too lost in the moment to do anything but clutch at her hips, groaning and muttering her name over and over, feeling the hot coil of his orgasm just out of reach. He struggled to keep himself in check, determined not to lose himself just yet. Not just yet.

She made a little whimpering sound with every forceful impact of his cock slamming into her. Combined with the wet slap of skin on skin and the sight of her fisting the duvet to keep herself from being pounded across the bed by his thrusts, it stroked his masculine pride and he fucked her harder.

“Do you like the way I’m fucking you? Do you like the way my cock feels inside you?”

“Yes,” she sobbed. “More, oh _fuck_ , more!”

“You want more?” he taunted. “You want me to fuck you more, Rose? Harder? Faster?”

“ _Please!_ ”

“Say it!” he ordered her.

She whimpered, thrusting herself backwards against him, straining for even more friction. “I’m yours, Doctor, all yours. Just _please_...faster...harder… _fuck_!

He sped up, giving her what they both needed, and she cried out. “Shush, love,” he admonished with as much of a smirk as he could muster. “Don’t want anyone to come up here and find us, do you?”

Rose didn’t answer. Her only response was a low whine that only intensified his animalistic instinct to claim her.

“You’re mine, Rose. _Mine_.”

She grunted a little with every crash of his hips against hers. “And you’re mine!”

“I’m yours. No question. _Ah, fuck_! Rose!”

He released her waist, leaning over her and bringing one hand up to clutch at her breasts while the other hand went down to rub frantically at her clit.

“Oh, _God!_ Yours!” she cried as she came again. “Forever!” 

It was good, so fucking good: she was mindless and declaring just whose she was, contracting around him forcefully, begging him to fuck her. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted more, he wanted it all. He’d had this before, he'd claimed her this way before and it was brilliant - more than brilliant, really, there weren’t words - but that bastard had dared touch her anyway. He needed to mark her.

He pulled himself out and pushed away from her. “Turn over.”

She obeyed immediately, scrambling over onto her back then sitting up, sliding to the edge of the bed where he had himself in hand, pumping furiously. She leaned forward to take him into her mouth and he used his free hand to hold her back. She looked up at him, confused, and he let his eyes smolder on hers for a moment as he stroked himself with increasing intensity.

The spark of lust in her eyes told him she knew what he wanted, what he needed, and she brought one hand up to cup his balls, squeezing and fondling them behind his pistoning hand. She smiled seductively, touching herself with her free hand, panting and licking her lips, waiting for him, the heat in her eyes as intense as he’d ever seen. “Come for me, Doctor,” she murmured between swirls of her pink tongue over her passion-bruised lips. Her gaze was intense and blazing, her eyes never left his. “Come for me. I’m yours. Claim me, Doctor.”

Her words tipped him over the edge. He came with a shout, still tugging his cock even as he spent himself. Rose slowed her fondling of his balls to a gentle rolling motion between her fingers, and he panted for breath, looking down at her. In that moment, with the sight of his milky fluid covering her chin, throat, and the tops of her bare breasts, marking her even as she grinned up at him, he felt more powerful than he’d ever felt, even when he’d had Time at his command. 

He used one hand to shove her back until she was propped with her arms behind her, and claimed her mouth in a kiss that was nothing short of triumphant.

~*~O~*~

Rose stood in front of the full-length mirror, working on her hair and straightening out her dress. There were wrinkles there, and it was going to be hard to deny what had just happened. 

“Oh, it’s no use. Everyone’s going to know.”

“Good.” He slipped his arms around her waist. “I want them to know.”

She swatted at his arm, then covered his hands with her own. “Git.”

“That I am.”

She smirked at the reflection of his chin on her shoulder in the mirror. “I thought you said nothing good ever happened to you in black-tie?”

His eyes twinkled with humor, and he kissed her cheek. “It would appear that I was wrong.”

Rose’s tongue made an appearance between her teeth. “Glad to hear it. I was going to have to object if you still thought that. What just happened seemed pretty damned good to me.”

He took a break from nibbling the junction of her neck and shoulder to look at her in the mirror. “It was fantastic, Rose.”

She lay her head back and turned it to kiss him, slow and languid, exploring his mouth. 

“Gonna have to fix my makeup, too,” she murmured against his lips, changing the subject again.

“Do whatever you need, but I’m staying right with you.”

She swiped at his lip. “You have lippy on you.”

“I imagine so.” He checked his own reflection and Rose smiled at him in the mirror. 

She touched up her makeup while the Doctor (unhelpfully) let his hands roam all over her, as if to intensify the claim he’d just staked on her. He kissed her shoulder, trailing scratchy kisses up her neck to the spot behind her ear that he knew made her quiver. She ground her bum against him in retaliation and he moaned, lowering his forehead to her shoulder. Rose grinned, proud of herself. 

“You’re insatiable, you are,” she teased.

“Your fault,” he shot back with a nibble to her bare shoulder.

Rose just smiled at that, then went back to working on her appearance in the mirror. “Well, I look as good as I’m going to get, I suppose.”

“You look gorgeous. Thoroughly shagged.”

“Hmm. Wonder why?”

~*~O~*~ 

They descended the stairs together a minute later, Rose’s hand resting delicately in the crook of the Doctor’s elbow. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Jackie and Pete approached them, and Pete’s face was solemn.

“Kevin Adams has been sacked,” he said without preface. “I won’t have anyone manhandling a woman in my home, particularly if that woman is my daughter.”

“Thank you,” Rose and the Doctor said in chorus. 

“I certainly hope you weren’t manhandled while you were upstairs,” Jackie said with a dark look.

The Doctor’s heart stuttered, but Rose deflected. “We had to talk about what had just happened, Mum. The Doctor and I were both upset by what Kevin did.”

Jackie pursed her lips and the Doctor knew she wanted to say more, but she let it drop. 

“You two are here just in time for the big announcement,” Pete changed the subject with a hint of pride in his voice. “We’ll be calling for everyone’s attention in just a moment. Grab a glass of champagne for the toast.”

“Yes, sir,” the Doctor said, then tugged Rose away. 

Rose took the champagne the Doctor handed her and sipped it delicately. “So Kevin won’t be a problem anymore. Almost a pity.”

“What?” he stared at her, a little outraged. “How could you say that? He-”

“If him being around is going to inspire… _manhandling_ like that, I’m all for it.”

“Minx,” he accused. 

“ _Your_ minx.”

“Damned right.”


	16. Discoveries, Revelations and Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor uncovers Rose's secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all knew this was coming. Remember that I love you.

The Doctor stretched and rolled over, reaching out for Rose and finding only a cold pillow. He cursed to himself when he remembered that she’d stayed with her parents the night before. He hated those nights. He wanted her with him all the time. 

Bereft of her presence, he rolled out of bed and, grumbling to himself, went to the ensuite to start his day. While he showered he allowed his mind to wander. As always, his thoughts returned to Rose. 

He was a man arse-over-teakettle in love, and well he knew it. He’d spent so long searching for her, waited for so long. The fact that she was actually there with him - and she _wanted_ to be with him - still blew his frankly magnificent mind. 

The Doctor wondered if it was too soon to ask her to move in. Maybe he’d ask her in Paris next month. Her presence in his flat, living with him every day, sharing every moment would be the best birthday gift he could ever ask for.

Wrapping a towel around his waist, he went back into the bedroom and picked up his phone from the nightstand. He checked for messages from Rose and saw there was one from three hours before. He opened his phone and scrolled to find the message. 

[Rose] 18/1/11 4:17 - _got called out on my first op for torchwood. don’t know how long I’m gone, but it shouldn’t be long. I’ll ring when I get back. xoxo_

The Doctor stiffened, clenching the phone in his hand. He’d known this day would come, but he still wasn’t prepared for the reality of it. Rose was out there, somewhere, defending the Earth...without him. Fear clutched at his heart. 

He dressed quickly and left the flat, a man on a mission. 

~*~O~*~

“Mr. Tyler?”

“Yes, Edith?”

“There’s a man downstairs here to see you. He doesn’t have an appointment, but he’s very...insistent.”

“Who is it?”

“Dr. George Dixon.”

Pete sighed, unsurprised. He’d expected something like this might happen. 

“Send him up, Edith.”

She fidgeted a bit. “Code Yellow security protocols?”

Pete waved his hand dismissively. “No, no. He’s a personal friend. It’s fine, just send him up.” 

Edith nodded and left, closing the door behind her. Pete wrapped up the email he was working on while he waited and, just as he was finishing, the buzzer on his desk sounded. 

“Yes, Edith?”

“Dr. George Dixon to see you, sir.”

“Send him in.”

Pete stood behind his desk to greet the Doctor, wondering just how uptight the other man would be. 

As it turned out, the Doctor was _very_ uptight. 

“Where’s Rose?” he demanded as he strode into the room, cutting right to the heart of the matter. 

Had it been any other man, Pete would have properly chastised the Doctor for being so high-handed in the director’s office. But considering that it _was_ the Doctor and he understood the man’s concern, he let it slide. 

“Have a seat, Doctor.”

The Doctor looked disgruntled with the very notion and gave the offered chair a look of disgust. But after a moment, he yielded and sat. 

“Where is Rose?” he asked again. 

“I can’t tell you.” Pete sat in his own chair, across from the Doctor. 

“Can’t or won’t?” the Doctor ground out through clenched jaw.

“Both. I _can_ tell you that she’s safe. The last check-in was forty-five minutes ago and everything was fine. She’s in good hands: Smith won’t let anything happen to her.”

“Mickey Smith?”

“That’s right.”

The Doctor scoffed. “Mickey the Idiot.”

Pete bristled a bit. “I understand that you and Smith have a history, and that it’s not entirely pleasant. I can assure you, however, that Mickey is _very_ protective of Rose, and was a good friend to her while she waited for you. He worried over her as much as the rest of us did.”

“I’ll just bet he did.” The Doctor’s voice was venomous. “Always loved her, him.”

“And he still does,” Pete answered. “But there is nothing between them beyond friendship. Smith has actually been seeing a young woman for the past several weeks, a young lady named Martha.”

The Doctor didn’t look mollified by this information, but let it drop. “I need you to hire me, Pete.”

Pete was a bit taken aback by the request and the shock must have shown on his face, because the Doctor persisted. “I’m serious.”

Pete recovered and nodded. “I understand that you want to be close to Rose -”

“It’s not that,” the Doctor hastened to explain. “You can put me in a different department for all I care, whatever you want. Just as long as I can go with her on her missions.”

“I can’t do that, Doctor. There’s a personal relationship there; it may compromise the operations.”

Rose had told Pete about the Doctor’s ‘Oncoming Storm’ face, and he suspected he was seeing it now. 

“ _Mickey and Rose_ have a personal relationship,” the Doctor bit out. 

“They do,” Pete agreed. “But it’s not like _your_ relationship with Rose.” 

The Doctor seemed almost pleased by that answer.

“So you’re sayin’ you won’t let me join a field team.”

“I won’t. It’s my understanding from Rose that you wouldn’t want to be on one anyway - the field teams carry weapons and Rose has made it clear that you are bitterly opposed to the use of force. She had to be convinced to carry a weapon herself.”

“If provoked -”

Pete interrupted him. “But if you would like to come work for me, that would be brilliant. Your expertise would be welcome in almost any department. I think you’d be particularly helpful with the pandimensional cannon project -”

“The _what_?”

“The pandimensional cannon,” Pete repeated, a little nonplussed by the Doctor’s confusion. “It’s been Rose’s pet project since she came here.”

The Doctor clenched his jaw and Pete followed up on a hunch, feeling a stab of pity for the man across the desk from him. His voice was a bit more gentle when he asked, “Has Rose never told you about it?”

“No,” the Doctor grumbled. “She hasn’t.” He was quiet for a moment before he continued. “I’m assuming the pandimensional cannon is a tool to open a path between two universes?”

Pete nodded slowly. “It is.”

“And it’s Rose’s ‘pet project’, you say?”

“She’s been working on it, yes,” was the measured reply.

The Doctor turned his head to the side and squeezed the arms of the chair he was sitting in. Pete eyed him carefully. “Doctor -”

“I need to talk to Rose.” 

“And you should. But you can’t talk to her until she’s out of the field.”

“How long?” The Doctor spat out the words as if they tasted bitter. 

“The mission is going well. It was anticipated to be a three-day op, and I believe they’ll be running on schedule.”

“So Friday?”

“That’s what I anticipate, yes.”

The Doctor stood and faced Pete, who also stood, putting his hands in his pockets awkwardly. 

“Can you keep me notified of Rose’s safety?”

“I can. But that’s all I can tell you, you understand.”

“I do.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine, Doctor. I wouldn’t knowingly put my daughter in any dangerous situations. Any more than you would.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes, and Pete thought he may have something to say to that. But he just gave a curt nod and turned towards the door. Pete called out to him. “Doctor?”

“Yeah?”

“She’ll be home soon, and you should talk then.”

“We will.”

~*~O~*~

[Rose] 20/01/11 6:32pm: _I’m home! I missed you. is it too late for me to come over?_  
[Doctor] 20/01/11 6:34pm: _I’m not going anywhere tonight_  
[Rose] 20/01/11 6:35pm: _I’ll be there in 45mins. dinner?_  
[Doctor] 20/01/11 6:37pm: _I’ll go get takeaway_  
[Rose] 20/01/11 6:41: _brilliant. ta. see you soon xoxo_

~*~O~*~

After an exuberant, relieved hug when he opened the door and saw her standing there, the Doctor had been quiet. Tense. Rose was puzzled. She’d halfway expected (and definitely hoped) that he would drag her to bed as soon as she walked in the door. But he’d taken her to the kitchen instead so that they could eat the takeaway he’d picked up. 

Rose did her best to make conversation with him all through dinner but he gave her perfunctory, short answers. It worried her. She’d rarely seen him so sullen since they’d found each other a few months before, and it had never been directed at her in all that time. The way he was acting now reminded her of times on the TARDIS when she’d wandered off and gotten them into trouble. 

Her hopes of being dragged to bed were fading even more as they finished dinner and he went into the lounge, sitting in his armchair and leaving her to sit on the couch alone. Rose sat at the far end gingerly, worry starting to gnaw at her. 

“Doctor?”

“What?”

“What’s wrong? You haven’t been yourself all night.” 

“Nothin’.”

“Please tell me, Doctor.”

He shook his head and turned his gaze to the window, refusing to look at her. She scooted to the other end of the couch, putting her hand on top of his.

“Please tell me. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

The Doctor ground his teeth. “M’just glad you’re back.”

“I don’t think that’s it.”

The Doctor huffed a sardonic laugh, shaking his head. Rose waited him out. Finally, he turned to her and looked into her eyes with his piercing blue ones, and Rose was taken aback to see the Storm there. 

“I talked to Pete while you were gone.”

“Oh?” Rose wasn’t sure why that would have him so upset, but she let him continue.

“Yeah. I went to see him the morning after you left and demanded he give me a job so I could go with you on your ops.”

She was surprised, but tried not to let it show. “What’d he say?”

“He told me that he wouldn’t let me go on ops with you because he thought they might be compromised by our...our ‘personal relationship’.”

Rose didn’t know if she was relieved or dismayed. A little of both, she thought. 

“He did, however, tell me that he thought I’d be an asset on the pandimensional cannon. Your ‘pet project’, he called it.”

Rose felt adrenaline course through her veins even as her shoulders slumped and she pulled her hand away from his. “Oh.”

“Yeah. ‘Oh’.” He turned away from her and clenched his fists. His voice was quiet when he finally spoke again. “When were you going to tell me that you’re still trying to get back to the other universe? To him?”

“I’m not,” Rose stated, and he spun his head so his eyes could bore into hers. “I’m _not_ , Doctor. Not anymore... not really.”

“ _’Not really_ ’?” he queried, his voice dripping acid. “Either you are or you aren’t, Rose! There’s no inbetween here. _Goddammit!_ ” he roared, jumping to his feet. 

Rose watched him pace in front of the couch, waiting to see what he would do next. She knew from years of experience that he could be dangerous and destructive in this kind of mood. She wasn’t afraid of him. Not in the least. He’d never lay a hand on her and she knew it. But she also knew better than to poke the bear when he was like this. 

“I thought you were _happy_ , Rose. I thought I made you happy.”

“You do!” she insisted.

“You said that you would stay with me. You said you were _mine_!”

Rose flushed when she recalled the events of the Christmas party. “I… I _am_ , Doctor. I told you the truth.” He didn’t answer right away, and she tried again. “Doctor?” Tears prickling in her eyes, she extended her hand toward him, longing for the feel of his fingers entwined with hers.

He rebuffed her offering of peace with a scowl. “’S‘at so? _Then why the hell are you so keen on getting back to him_?!”

“I’m not, Doctor.” He scoffed, but she persisted. “I’m _really_ not. I was for a while, yes, but not now.”

“After we got together?”

“I stopped _actively_ trying to get the cannon working not long after that.”

He slammed his hand down on the mantel over his fireplace, rattling the pictures there. “I can’t _believe_ you, Rose! I came here _just_ for you...the TARDIS _created_ me _just for you_ , and you’re trying to leave me?”

“I’m _not_!”

“You’re helping to build a pandimensional cannon! What the hell else am I supposed to think?”

“I told you, I gave the project up! I only have an academic interest in it now!”

The Doctor turned and looked at her and she saw that the Storm was dissipating only to be replaced by betrayal and hurt. His eyes were beseeching, pleading. “I realize this isn’t what you wanted. I understand that you wanted to go home to your old life, our old life. I do too, sometimes. But I thought we were making a life _together_!”

Rose’s eyes filled with tears. “Why are you being this way?”

“How _else_ should I be, Rose? You’re trying to leave _this_ me to go to a parallel version of me! You couldn’t make it any more clear by doing that that I’m not good enough for you!”

“That’s not true,” she asserted, swiping at her eyes. “That’s _not_ how it is.”

“Then how is it? Tell me how I’m wrong.”

“I’m not leaving, Doctor! He’s not coming, and I’m not leaving. I’m staying with you!”

“Oh, so it’s only a matter of his inability to get here. I see.”

“Stop it!” She jumped to her feet, her fists balled by her hips, tears spilling from her eyes. “Just stop it!”

“Stop what, Rose? Stop being angry because I’ve been living a lie? Stop being hurt that you love someone else more than me?”

“You know I miss him!”

“I know you do!” he bellowed, then turned away and brought his fists up to his face, scrubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. “I know you do...”

“You told me you wouldn’t expect any less.”

“I know what I said. And I wasn’t lying.”

“Then what the hell, Doctor!?”

The Doctor dropped his hands, but still didn’t turn to face her. “He won’t stop trying to get to you. He’ll never stop. I wouldn’t have. I’d’ve done anything to get back to you, to bring you back to me. But I’m here and I’m…" 

He spun around, the gaze of his blue eyes cold and intense. She dropped her eyes.

"Look at me, Rose," he demanded.

She tore her eyes from the ground in front of her to meet his, darkened in desperation.

"I'm here. Do you see me...?"

She did. She saw all of him; his emotions roiling close to the surface.

“I’m _here_. I’m _right here_ and I’m _not leaving_. And do you know what else I am, Rose?” She shook her head at him. “I’m proof that _he’s not coming_.”

Rose was stunned. She’d all but given up on the idea of the other Doctor coming for her, but to hear confirmation of it was still an unpleasant jolt.

“I don’t…”

“The TARDIS sent me here to be what you need. Why would she have sent me if you were going to get him back? She knew you were going to be here, alone and afraid. Why would she have sent me if you were only going to have to wait a couple of months to have me - the other me - back?”

It was a damned good question, and Rose had no answer. 

“She wouldn’t have. But I _am_ here, Rose. I’m _here._ I was created for you, to be what you need. To be here for you, to be yours. And you’re trying to leave me!”

“I’m not!” she insisted.

“I’m just the next best thing,” he muttered, bringing both hands up to the mantel and leaning against it, letting his head droop. “Something to fall back on, me. I’m not what you want, I’m just what’s available.”

“That’s not true!” she cried.

He spun on his heel. “Then why can’t you be with me? I live with his ghost hanging over my head all the time. The ghost of the me I never got to be. I spend my days thinking I can never be as good as what I became. Can you _possibly_ fathom how terrible that feels?”

“I can’t, and I’m sorry.” She brushed a tear away. 

“I just want to be what you want, Rose.” He flopped onto the couch with slumped shoulders, burying his face in his hands. “I don’t want to be what you settled for.”

“M’not settling.” She sat down beside him and put her arm around his shoulders.

“Sure feels like it.”

“M’ _not_.” Her voice was firm, resolved. The Doctor didn’t answer, and she withdrew her arm, nudging his shoulder to get him to look at her. He didn’t, so she reached around and put her hand on his cheek to turn him towards her. He acquiesced, but kept his eyes closed. 

“M’happy here with you, Doctor. It’s why I stopped actively working on the cannon. Yes, I miss him. Yes, I miss the life we shared. But I’m here with you now, and that’s good.”

“You’ll leave me,” he predicted, dismal. “You’re going to find something better, you’re going to get your chance to fly away back to the stars, and you’re going to leave me.”

“I’m not,” she told him in a firm voice. “I have what I want.”

The Doctor looked at her and his eyes were wet. Rose’s heart broke for him and she put her arms around his neck, hugging him close.

“I need you, Rose,” he murmured into her neck. “All I need is you. All I want is you.”

“I know,” she soothed, stroking the back of his head. 

“But you can’t say the same.” It was a statement, not a question. 

Rose pulled back and cupped his face in her hands. “I was a miserable heap before you found me, Doctor. _Both_ times you found me, here _and_ over there. I had no hope for anything but a beans-on-toast life before you found me in that basement. And after I was stranded here, before I got your letter, my mum and Pete were actually concerned that I may die.”

He tensed, but his eyes remained immeasurably sad. She felt another tear slip down her cheek. 

“I can’t stand the thought of you like that,” he murmured.

“But I’m _not_ like that anymore. Don’t you understand? I’m with you and I’m _happy_ about that.”

He studied her for a minute and she knew he was searching her eyes for the truth. She did her best to convince him without words. 

The moment stretched out, lengthening, until she brought her lips to his for a kiss. She kept it soft, chaste, pulling back and laying her forehead against his after a minute. 

“Do you know that I couldn’t stop thinking about you while I was out with the team?” she murmured.

He grunted, and she nodded a little. “It’s true. You were all I could think about. I was ready to be done as quickly as possible so I could come home. To you.”

“How could you have kept this from me?” he implored, sounding broken. “Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Well, I’m hurt.”

“And I’m sorry.” She kissed his forehead, his nose, his cheeks, his eyelids, murmuring apologies as she went. “I’m so sorry, Doctor. Forgive me. I’m sorry.”

He sniffed and pulled his head away from hers, swiping at his eyes. “I think you should go home tonight.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m not leaving like this. I’m not leaving _you_ like this.”

“M’fine, Rose. You don’t need to stay.”

“I _want_ to stay. I’ve missed you so much, Doctor, and we’ve lost so much time together already...I don’t want to be away from you. I want to stay with you.” He didn’t look at her so Rose stood up to face him, pushing his shoulders back against the couch. She brought one knee up, then the other, straddling his lap and draping her arms around his neck. “Look at me, Doctor.”

He shook his head, and once again she cupped his scruffy cheek to turn his head toward hers. His eyes were crystal blue, the lightest she’d ever seen them. 

“I’m happy, Doctor. I’m happy when we’re together. I’m happy lying beside you, whispering in your ear, curling close to you. Pretending to be cold so you’ll snuggle me tighter. Going out to dinner and having everyone see that you’re mine and I’m yours. Snuggling close to you on the couch while we watch a film together. Don’t those things make you happy, too?”

He shook his head, but she knew it wasn’t a denial. Not to her. 

“They do, Rose, but -”

She reached down and pulled his hands up, laying them on her waist, just over her hips. then she brought her hands up to cradle his face and bent to kiss him. He barely returned it. She parted his lips with her tongue and claimed his mouth in a more forceful snog. Slowly, so slowly, he began to respond, massaging her hips, rolling them against him where he grew harder in his jeans. Finally, she broke away for breath and started planting light little busses on his cheeks. 

“I want more from you than skin-to-skin, Rose,” he told her just as she kissed his eyelids. “So much more. I don’t just want your body. I want all of you. I want your mind, your heart, your soul. I want _you_ to be with _me_.”

Rose nodded, bending to kiss him again, but he grasped her hips, stopping her. 

“If that’s not what you want, be merciful and tell me now, Rose. Please...please don’t -”

“I won’t,” she cut him off before he could finish. She brought her lips down to his again and covered his mouth. He was passive for just a moment before he clutched her hips tight and returned the kiss with ferocity. Rose met every stroke of his lips, of his tongue, and rolled her hips against him, his hands guiding her movements. 

After a minute, it wasn’t enough and the Doctor got to his feet. Wrapping Rose’s legs around his waist he carried her to his bedroom, never releasing her mouth. When he got there he kicked the door closed behind them, as if trying to keep out anything that would ever come between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys...y'all are the best. Just the best. I appreciate every single hit, kudos, comment, bookmark and subscription. You all mean the world to me, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you. <3
> 
> As always, huge thanks to Tenroseforeverandever, who continues to put up with my neuroses and overuse of adverbs and 'said'. 
> 
> Four more chapters!


	17. The Doctor's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and I did not get along. Special thanks to tenroseforeverandever who coached me so much I feel like she wrote at least half of it, and to Untempered Schism who helped me a tremendous amount making the dialogue more authentic. Credit for this chapter goes - at least in part - to them. You ladies rock.
> 
> Enjoy this deposit of fluff.

The Doctor fidgeted, growing impatient waiting for Rose to get ready. When it came to preparing herself for a special event, she always took an inordinate amount of time painting her face and gussying herself up. Bloody waste of time, to his mind. Rose was beautiful to him no matter what. But it made her happy and to be honest, he couldn't really argue with the results: she always stepped out looking downright ravishing. He just could have done without the waiting.

He plopped onto his couch and picked up a magazine, flipping through it absently, noting a small picture of he and Rose in the corner of one page with a dismissive snort. He tossed it back down on the coffee table. At least it wasn’t the full-page spreads it had been before. 

But he refused to let that ruin his mood. Tonight was special. Tonight, he didn’t think anything could ruin his mood.

He sighed, looking around and smiling. Rose’s influence was clear all over his flat. It reminded him of her time on the TARDIS and the subtle, domestic changes she had brought about, almost without him noticing. There was a certain indefinable feminine touch to the place now and her scent wafted through, even when she wasn’t there. He couldn’t be sorry about that. 

Today was the Doctor’s birthday; at least, it was the birthday listed on all of his forged paperwork, provided by the TARDIS when he came here. Rose had insisted on celebrating and really, who was he to turn down a date with Rose? 

She wanted to go to dinner. He would have been fine with the pub and knew that Rose would have been, too, but considering that he had plans for tonight, he’d suggested a late Valentine’s dinner. They’d been in the Bahamas on Valentine’s Day and while they’d had a romantic dinner there, well, he wanted to take her out again and do the traditional thing, the human thing.

He and Rose had been on two trips together so far with more holidays planned in the not-too-distant future. They’d elected to go to Paris just after Christmas to see the fireworks over the Eiffel Tower on New Year’s. It had been a glorious few days, with only the occasional paparazzo jumping out from behind a building or tree instead of the swarms they’d become accustomed to in London. Both were relieved that they got to tour the city without too much interference, and the Doctor had had a grand time giving her history lessons on the sites they saw. She’d soaked them up, just as she always had, and he’d felt almost like they were their old selves. 

The Bahamas had been wonderful as well. Rose had romped around the beach in a bikini, splashing him and laughing at his sputtering. She’d been expecting his indignation, and he’d played along. But Rose was _laughing._ He couldn’t be upset about anything that made her happy. He’d proven long ago in another universe that he’d do anything to see that smile, and that was still true. 

They’d only gotten back from that trip yesterday morning but she’d already had some of the photos printed: one picture of them was stuck to his fridge with a magnet. She’d framed another and and put it on the mantel. 

The Doctor stood up and went to examine his mantel. He and Rose had only been properly together for three and a half months, but the shelf above his fireplace was already filling with photos and souvenirs from their time together. Rose had found a large conch shell on the beach in the Bahamas and she’d put it right next to the framed photo of them she’d had one of the locals take. They were both in swimsuits: the Doctor in board shorts and Rose with a sarong tied over her bikini bottom. He had his arm around her and she was turned into his side, one arm around his waist and the other resting in the middle of his chest. They were both beaming; happiness radiated from them. 

He set that photo down and picked up the one next to it, a shot from their trip to Paris at New Year’s. Standing before l’Arc de Triomphe, the Doctor had put his arms around Rose's waist with her back to his front. They were both bundled against the cold and snow, but their smiles were warm and genuine. They'd had a lovely time. 

He’d almost told her he loved her that day, but stopped himself just in time. He wanted to be sure it was the right time. There was no doubt how he felt about her, he’d felt it for years. But he wanted Rose to be certain of how _she_ felt.

Next to that photo sat the one taken at Jackie and Pete’s wedding. Rose especially loved that picture, so it was slightly larger than the others.

But the Doctor’s favorite was a candid shot that Jackie had taken on Christmas day. Rose had been sitting in the corner of the couch for a change, and the holiday, plus the knowledge that they’d be leaving for Paris in a few hours, had had the Doctor in a playful mood. He’d leaned over into her shoulder the way she always leaned on him, slipping one arm behind her back to circle her waist. She’d laughed and put her arms around him, letting him settle in. The Doctor had decided this was a comfortable place to be and they’d stayed that way for a few minutes. Pete had made a joke about something (he honestly couldn’t remember what), and they’d laughed while Jackie snapped the picture. He’d not expected much of the photo, but it had turned out to be a lovely image of them. 

“Taking a stroll down memory lane?” came a sultry voice from behind him.

He felt Rose’s arms slip around his waist before he could turn around and he covered her hands with one of his, setting the photo back down on the mantel. Rose lay her cheek against his back and threaded their fingers together. 

“Maybe just a bit. Was thinking it’d be nice to fill this old shelf to capacity, then start on the other shelves around this place.”

“Mmm,” she agreed. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

“Full of good plans, me.”

She chuckled, then squeezed him a little. “Happy Birthday, Doctor.”

“S’not really my birthday, love.”

“But we’re going to celebrate like it is.”

He turned around, intending to kiss her, but she took a step back. He just gaped at her. She wore a short cocktail dress with a lace overlay in the exact shade of blue of the TARDIS. The sleeves of the dress came to just below her elbows, and she’d accessorized with a pair of simple earrings and matching bracelet instead of her usual hoops. On her feet were a pair of basic black heels and her hair was straightened, swinging free.

She looked down at herself uncertainly, then back up at him. “You don’t like it?”

“Blimey, Rose…” 

Rose crossed her arms over her belly. “I didn't know what else to wear. You said we were going somewhere nice, and you’re wearing a suit, so I…”

He stepped forward and slipped his fingers into her hair by way of her jaw and shut her up with a kiss. It took only the space of a heartbeat before she was melting into him, putting her arms around his neck and arching into him, surrendering to the kiss the way she knew he liked. He brought one arm down to keep her body flush against his and deepened the kiss, feeling her lipstick slide over his mouth and not caring. 

She smiled against his mouth and he pulled away, looking her in the eye with a furrowed brow. “What’s so funny?”

“You are,” she replied, simply. “You keep that up and we’ll never leave.”

He bent to nibble her neck, using his nose to push her hair out of his way. “Maybe that’s my intention.”

She giggled, then sighed when he nibbled her earlobe around the silver earrings she wore. “Doctor...we need to go. We’re going to be late for our reservation.”

“Don’t care.” He went back to the junction between her neck and shoulder, inhaling her light perfume and finding himself more than a bit dizzy. 

“ _I_ care, Doctor. You deserve a wonderful birthday. Besides, I’ve been looking forward to a romantic dinner with my bloke.”

He heaved an elaborate sigh, then lay his forehead against her shoulder. After a moment of pouting he grinned and tried again, planting kisses on the column on her neck. “Don’t need to go anywhere for romance, Rose. I can be plenty romantic at home.” 

She stroked the back of his head. “M’not asking you to behave yourself for long, Doctor. Just until after dinner. You can hold out that long, yeah?”

He sighed again, even more dramatic and showy than his first, and looked to the ceiling as if beseeching some god. "You're killin’ me, Rose.”

She giggled. “How so?”

“Dressin' up like that, all wrapped up like a gorgeous gift, and expecting me not to try to unwrap you the moment I see you."

"Flattery will get you everywhere with me, Doctor.” She patted his cheek, and he groaned. “After dinner. You can do it. Dinner won't kill you."

“Dinner won’t, but wanting to drag you off into some dark corner might.” 

She grinned while she straightened his tie and lay his lapels flat. "The instant you bring me home you can ravish me up against the door to the flat if you like, but you're feeding me first. No sex on an empty stomach. Okay? Now, you ready to go?"

He nipped at her neck, brushing her hair back from her face. "Why don't I ravish you up against the door now and we'll change our reservation for an hour later?"

“Insatiable, you are. Insatiable _and_ drop-dead gorgeous.” She teased him with a tongue-touched smile, and his eyes couldn’t help but follow that little pink temptation. "Dinner first, shag later. I promise."

He planned to hold her to that.

~*~O~*~

They’d gone to an upscale bistro for dinner, and the conversation had been light and pleasant. Most of their talking had been about past adventures and trips they wanted to take together, although other subjects had popped up from time to time.

Rose picked at her food for a minute, and, concerned at her change in mood, the Doctor asked her what was wrong. 

“Lifestyle magazine is still after us to do an article. After _me_ , really.”

"Are you considering doin' it?"

She shrugged. “I think they’re going to wear me down eventually and I _will_ want to. I dunno. Maybe if we give them what they want they’ll go away. They’re offering five hundred thousand quid to us to sit down and talk with them, then let them take a couple of photos of us.”

The Doctor thought for a few minutes. If they did this article, it would announce to the entire world that he and Rose were a couple. There’d be no question about it anymore, not for anyone. He had to admit that idea was very appealing. 

“If you want to do the article, we’ll do the article.”

Her mouth opened in surprise. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope. Not kidding. Won’t hurt anything, might actually help. Besides, we can take that money and give it to a charity, if you want.”

“Yeah, I like that idea.”

“Go ahead and set it up. I’ll be on my best behavior. Promise.”

“I’m shocked.”

“About what? That I want to announce to the world that you’re mine?” He gave a little laugh. "I'm a bloke, Rose, and you’re the most beautiful woman in all of time and space. Of course I want everyone to know that you're mine. Be happy to tell the world, me. I've always wanted to, starting with Adam."

“Really? That long?” The Doctor nodded at her and she gave him a cheeky grin before going back to her plate. “Well, when you put it like that…”

“I’m just sayin’, I’ll do it if you want.”

Rose nodded. “We’ll talk about it some more. We’ve got time.”

“Whatever you want,” he shrugged. “Not goin’ anywhere, me.”

The waiter came by and took a dessert order, clearing their dishes, and the Doctor reached across to take Rose’s hand in his.

“Rose?”

“Yes, Doctor?”

He didn't say anything, just turned her hand so that her palm was face up and empty, noting her wide eyes. He didn’t acknowledge the look on her face, though, nor his pounding heart. He just dug into his pocket and pulled out the key, placing it in her hand. 

“Key to my flat. ‘Bout time you had one.”

“Oh!” She looked at the key with wide eyes.

“I’d like for you to move in with me,” he blurted, then rushed to explain before she could form words. “You’re at mine four nights out of seven anyway, and you’ve already got a drawer and closet space. I miss you when you’re not there, Rose. I hate waking up alone. You can’t stay with your parents forever, and...well, I just want you to move in with me.”

“That’s a big step, Doctor.”

“Why? You moved in with me the day after you met me first time around.”

“That was different.”

“How?”

“We weren’t sleeping together. We weren’t in a relationship. I had my own room.”

“Do you want your own room at mine? You can have the spare bedroom if you want it, but I won’t pretend that I won’t be trying to lure you into mine.”

She giggled. “Can I think about it?”

He deflated a bit, but tried not to let it show. “Absolutely. Fantastic. Take all the time you need.”

“Doctor,” Rose began, “I think we both know that I’m going to move in with you eventually. I just can’t up and leave Mum right now, yeah? She’s emotional and pregnant and it’ll break her heart if I just leave home again without any kind of warning.”

“Your mum is a big girl. She has to know we-”

“She does,” Rose cut him off. “But still...she’s hormonal and cries over every little thing. If I just move out suddenly…”

“I understand,” he acquiesced. And he tried. But as hard as he tried to understand, memories niggled in the back of his mind...how the first time he’d given her a key, she hadn’t hesitated. It hadn’t mattered that her mum had just got her back after a year-long absence. She’d willingly run away with him into the stars. 

What was different now? A cruel, nagging voice at the back of his mind insisted that she’d be jumping at the chance if he _could_ show her the stars again.

Rose didn’t seem to notice his inner turmoil - or maybe she did. She reached across and took his hand. “Give me a couple of weeks, yeah? Then ask me again. Two weeks. Two weeks from today.” She offered him a coy smile. “I feel like the chances are good I’ll say yes then. Better than good.”

He leaned over to kiss her and her smile broadened. They kept the kiss chaste, owing to where they were. The Doctor didn’t want to make a spectacle of themselves and attract unwanted attention. 

“Thank you, Rose.”

“I’m just...wow. I’m always surprised when you do something so domestic. My mind feels a bit fuzzy.”

The Doctor curled his hand around hers, the one still holding the key. “Keep the key. I’d like for you to be able to come and go as you please, even if I’m not there.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

It was Rose that leaned over to steal a kiss this time. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Just for...for being you. For being wonderful. For being mine.”

“Oh, precious girl. I’m definitely yours.”

~*~O~*~

They lay together several hours later, Rose snuggled into his side. The Doctor let his thoughts wander but as always, they came right back to the fantastic woman beside him. He traced the fingers of her hand that lay on his t-shirt covered chest, the tips of his fingers outlining knuckles and categorizing skin. 

“You know, I thought I’d found you all on my own,” the Doctor murmured, threading his fingers through hers.

Rose scoffed a little. "'Course you did. Thought I was gonna die. But you found me. Took my hand and told me to run. Remember?"

The Doctor smiled a little without looking at her. “No, I mean, I thought it was coincidence that I found you that day. Just random chance.”

“Are you saying it wasn’t?”

"I don't think it was. You know that the Time Lords considered themselves to be the most powerful beings in the multiverse. Arrogance and a belief that there was no higher authority than ourselves was hardwired into us at a very young age. I’ve only ever believed in the laws of physics and scientific facts. But you... finding you... that was something bigger."

Rose rolled to her side to look at him. “What d’ya mean?”

The Doctor turned onto his side to face her but didn’t answer right away. He looked down at their hands, lying between them, and continued to stroke Rose’s fingers. Finally, he spoke. “I believe I was meant to find you. I believe you were meant to be with me, to save me. I believe that Time had a plan for me, and you were it.”

“You’re talking about fate? Destiny?”

“You could call it that,” he agreed. “I always discounted the idea. Thought it was ludicrous, me. But I also thought that romantic love was ludicrous. It was laughable to think that I, a mighty Time Lord, would succumb to such a thing. Then I found you hiding in a basement and everything has been different since that moment. Everything I ever believed has been thrown out the window. You changed everything, Rose.”

Rose ducked her head, a little embarrassed and a lot pleased. “You changed everything for me, too,” she admitted.

“You told me once, a long time ago, that travelling is better with two. And you were right. Now, here, in this little human life…”

“We’re best when we’re together, no matter where we are.” She brought up her hand to cup his cheek, stroking her thumb over the scruff there. 

“That we are,” he smiled. “You’re the best part of me.”

Rose smiled, her eyes soft. “Oh, I don’t believe that.”

“It’s true, Rose. You healed me, after the war. You loved me anyway. You didn’t have to but you _did_. I’m a better man, all because of you.”

Rose kissed him lightly. “You were a good man anyway.”

“You make me _better_.”

“You make me better, too. You make me happy.”

“Yeah. I didn’t know that this kind of happiness was possible. But it is.”

“Even here?” Rose asked, indicating the room around her, and he knew she meant this world. 

“Anywhere, Rose. Anywhere at all. _Especially_ here. I've been given the chance to live a life I could never have had before, and the best part of it is the chance to share it with you. It's a dream come true." He took a deep breath to brace himself, closing his eyes for a second, then opened them to look into hers. The hazel of her eyes was soft and welcoming, and he felt safe. 

“I love you, Rose.”

Her eyes clouded with tears and he had a moment of panic. In his need to touch her, he pulled her closer to him, snuggling her tight against his chest. Had he done it wrong? 

He must have said that last bit out loud, because she shook her head and sniffled. “No, you did it just right. I just...I thought I’d never hear that from you.”

“How could you think that, love? You’ve got to know I’ve loved you for ages.”

“I think I _knew_ , I just loved you so much and wanted to hear it from you so badly. I just...I gave up hope that you’d ever actually _say_ those words.”

He leaned back, catching her chin to tilt it towards him. “You love me, too?”

She gave a watery laugh. “Of course I do, you daft git. I’ve loved you since the _first_ time I told you it was better with two.”

Words didn’t seem adequate then, so he kissed her instead. The kiss quickly turned heated and hands began to roam. Within minutes, he was pushing into her and swallowing her gasp with his own mouth. 

“I love you,” Rose sighed when he rocked into her heat. 

“I love you,” when he released her mouth from the desperate kiss he’d sought.

“I love you,” when she pulsed and contracted around him.

It was sweeter than the softest music, and he whispered his devotion to her as he came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Rose's dress.](http://g.nordstromimage.com/ImageGallery/store/product/Large/17/_11440857.jpg)


	18. Two Weeks Later

“Tonight’s the night, Donna!” 

“What’s tonight? What night?” Donna looked puzzled, then gasped. “ _You’re proposing_!?”

The Doctor scoffed. “Don’t be daft. S’too early to propose. I’m asking her to move in with me again.”

“Are you really?”

“Yep!” He bounced on the balls of his toes. “Got reservations at some restaurant I’ve never heard of, but it got five stars. She’ll think it’s fantastic, I’m sure. Impressive, eh?”

“You think she will?”

“Sure she will. Sounded fancy. Rose likes fancy.”

“Not the restaurant, you dolt. I’m talking about moving in with you. You think she’ll do it?”

“I _hope_ she will,” he told her. “Asked her on me birthday. Said to give her two weeks and ask again, she’d likely say yes then. S’been two weeks to the day.”

Donna looked skeptical. “It’s only been, what? A couple of months that you two have been together?”

The Doctor chuckled. “Four months, one day and eighteen hours.”

“Blimey. It’s downright weird how you can do that.” She shook her head and went on. “But still, don’t you think it’s a bit early for moving in together?”

“Known Rose for coupla years, me.” He gave Donna a smug smile. “‘Sides, she moved in with me the day after she met me before,” he scoffed. 

Donna looked around to see if anyone was around. Finding no one, she said, “But that wasn’t _here_ and you two weren’t… _like you are_.”

“Should make it easier for her to move in now.” He paused, trying to fight back the insecurities he’d been dealing with. “You don’t think she’s ready?”

“I think she loves you, Doctor. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. I just...I dunno. _I’d_ say yes, but Rose isn’t me.”

“Pah. You worry too much,” he grinned, dismissing his own fears and hers. “It’ll be fine.”

The phone rang and Donna answered it while the Doctor prepared his coffee.

“Oh, hi, Rose! Yes, he’s here. Getting coffee. The daft idiot must have forgotten to turn his ringer on this morning.” 

The Doctor paused in his stirring to check his coat pocket and, sure enough, there were four missed calls from Rose. 

“Okay!” Donna chirped to Rose. She covered the receiver and spoke to the Doctor. “She wants to talk to you… in _private_. She said to go into your office to pick up.”

He furrowed his brow. “That’s weird, but alright.” He gave Donna a goofy grin. “Tell her to hold on just a mo and I’ll pick up.”

Donna relayed the message while the Doctor went to his office and unlocked the door. Posters and books lined the walls and his desk was cluttered with papers. He closed the door behind him and walked around to the other side of the desk, clearing a space in the clutter before him. Setting his coffee mug down, he took a seat in his chair and kicked his feet up onto his desk. Comfortably settled, he reached up to grab the phone. 

“Hullo, love!”

“Doctor.” 

Something in his heart clenched when he heard her tone. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. He sat up straight, taking his feet off the desk and clutching the receiver tightly. “Rose? Are you alright?”

“I don’t...I don’t know.”

“What’s wrong, love?”

Rose drew a shuddery gasp from across the line. “I went to your flat, I wanted to talk to you.”

He felt fear clawing at him. “Why? About what?”

“He’s here. He came.”

The Doctor didn’t need to ask who ‘he’ was. Every muscle in his body tensed. “He what?”

“He called to me. In a dream.”

The Doctor’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Oh, Rose, love, it was just a dream. He’s not-”

“He gave me coordinates to somewhere up north. Dad’s looking up the location now. The D- he told me to go there.”

“Rose -”

She was crying harder now, he heard her sobs through the telephone line. “I have to go, Doctor. Can you understand? I have to go.”

“You don’t have to go, Rose. You _don’t_. We’re happy, aren’t we?”

“I have to,” she insisted. “He came back for me.”

“He can’t have done! It’s not possible, Rose!”

“But he _did_. I _have_ to go. I just...I just wanted to tell you goodbye.”

“Rose, wait -”

“Goodbye, Doctor. Thank you.”

“Don’t go, Rose! _Don’t_!”

“I have to.”

“Rose! _Rose!_ ” he shouted into the receiver, then heard a click. “Rose? _ROSE!_ ”

But there was only dead air. 

The Doctor slumped into his seat. “No. No, no, _no_.”

The door opened, and Donna poked her head in. “Doctor? I heard shouting. Are you alright?”

“No. _NO!_ ” He shot to his feet, roaring, and used both arms to swipe all of the clutter covering his desk onto the ground. “ _NO!_ ” He threw his chair, clattering it against the wall and clenched his fists to his sides, looking for something else to destroy. Settling on his bookcase, he dashed an entire row of books to the floor in one swoop. “ _No, goddammit! NO!!!_

Donna stepped into the office fully, her hands up in a placating gesture. “Doctor…”

“She left me, Donna! She’s leaving me, right now! Right at this moment she’s gone off to parts unknown. Back to _him!_ ” Tears threatened and he grabbed his laptop, heard it shattering against the floor. It wasn’t enough. Blind rage surged through him. He picked up the phone, the device that had brought him to such ruin, and heaved it across the room. The cracking and clattering sound didn’t give him any satisfaction. He snatched at something else - anything - and his hand landed on the photo of he and Rose at Christmas, in Jackie’s parlor. Rose smiled up at him and he suddenly felt himself deflate. The rage receded and left him with bone-crushing sorrow. 

He stared at the picture for long moments, silent, standing in the ruins of his office. Donna took a tentative step towards him. “Doctor?”

The photo dropped from his boneless fingers and he brought his balled fists up to his eyes. “She’s leaving me, Donna. She’s leaving me.” His head fell forward under the weight of his grief, and Donna was immediately there to support it with her shoulder, bringing her arms around him.

“It’s alright, Doctor. S’alright. I’ve got you.”

He let her hold him, let her try to soothe him. “It’s not alright,” he cried. “It’ll never be alright again.” 

Donna didn’t answer, just looked up at him with her own tear-filled eyes. 

He pushed away from her and took a step over the litter in the floor towards the door. “I’ve gotta find her.” Even in his own ears he could hear the false hope in his voice. “I’ve gotta go stop her.”

Donna didn’t let go of his hand. “Doctor, you can’t.”

“Watch me,” he challenged her. 

“Doctor, _listen_ to me. Maybe it’s not what you think.”

“She said he was back and she’s leaving. She made herself very clear. How could it be anything other than what I’m thinking?”

Donna didn’t answer, she simply stepped forward and enfolded him in her arms once more. 

He broke down. “She’s leaving me, Donna. She’s left me.”

She stroked the back of his head. “I know, love. I know.”

“What am I going to do now? I came here for her; I was _created_ for her.” He pushed back from her embrace, his hysteria gone, replaced by quiet desperation. “I don’t belong here. What purpose could I possibly serve now? What will I do?”

He didn’t get an answer to his rhetorical question, didn’t expect one. He just stood there for a moment before he gave over to the tears again, clutching his best friend tight and crying into her shoulder while she shushed and swayed him like an injured and weeping child, stroking the back of his head. 

~*~O~*~

Rose was crying again, sobbing into Mickey’s shoulder as if her heart was breaking. She was rather sure that it was. 

Pete and Jackie sat in the front and Jackie kept turning her head to look at Rose, offering her hand in support. Pete was casting covert looks into the rear-view mirror at his stepdaughter, the concern etched on his face. 

“S’alright, babe,” Mickey soothed her. Jackie simply watched Rose, rubbing her thumb over her daughter’s hand. 

Rose heard him, but accepted no comfort from either his words or her mother’s touch. She wasn’t sure how it could ever be alright. Nothing would ever be alright again. She didn’t _deserve_ for anything to ever be alright again.

Jackie squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

She wiped her eyes. “I do, Mum. S’what I’ve wanted.”

“I know that. Nearly killed yourself, wasting away, pining for this. But, Rose, if you want it so much, why are you crying so?”

This brought on a fresh wave of tears, and Rose just shook her head. Mickey put his arm around her and she buried her face into his chest. 

Jackie turned in her seat so that she was as close to facing Rose as she could get. “Sweetheart, I know this is what you’ve wanted, but people are allowed to change their minds.”

“I need him. I’ve missed him so much. I see him in my dreams, and anytime I see a bloke in a pinstriped suit or with wild brown hair I get a little excited, thinking he’s come for me.”

“I understand that, Rose. But are you willing to throw away happiness with both hands to have someone you’ve missed?”

“I’ve more than just _missed_ him, Mum! You know that!”

“No, actually, I don’t know that. Not since you found the Doctor that’s here.”

Rose didn’t have an answer for that, so she said nothing.

“Rose, listen to me.” Jackie squeezed Rose’s hand again and tugged until Rose was looking up at her. “You have a life here, as much as you didn’t think you wanted it. You have me and Pete, and Mickey’s here. You have a brother or sister on the way. And you have _himself_.”

“Not anymore,” she snuffled. “I’ve ruined everything. I left him behind.”

“You don’t have to. No one is forcing you to do this.” 

“But don’t you understand how much _he_ must have missed _me_ to risk the universes like this?”

“Don’t you think your Doctor, _this_ Doctor, would move heaven and earth to keep you with him, too?”

“I know he would, but-”

“There’s no buts, Rose Tyler,” Jackie interrupted. “Either you love the man and you want to share your life with him, or you don’t. There’s no middle ground here. He loves you. That barmy git - for all I’ve hated him - he loves you. And you could have a life here, with him.”

“They’re the same man, mum! Don’t you understand? The Doctor here in this universe… he’s the _same_ as the Doctor we’re going to. I can’t love one and not love the other. I have to go, Mum. I have to do this. I have to go to him.”

“Alright then. So you’re choosing to spend your life with the other version of him. Flying all over the cosmos and running from danger.”

“I’ve never taken the safe route, Mum! You know that!”

“You think staying here and leaving yourself open to the Doctor is the safe choice? You think running around with the confounded field ops team at Torchwood is safe? You have adventure here, Rose. You just miss _that_ adventure with _that_ Doctor.”

“I do! I miss it. I miss _him_.”

“But you can miss that life and miss him without throwing away what you have. What you have is _good_. You don’t have to fly away again, Rose.” 

“I’ve ruined everything.” Two more tears slid down her cheeks. 

“You’ve broken his heart, I’m sure of it,” Jackie told her. “But he _loves_ you, Rose. He’ll forgive you if you go back to him and tell him you’re sorry.”

“You’re just saying all this because you don’t want me to go,” Rose spat. “You want me _here_ , with you.”

“I want you _happy_ ,” Jackie retorted with narrowed eyes. “And you’ve never been happier in your life than you have since you got that letter so many months ago.” 

“Your mum’s right,” Mickey told her gently. “I don’t want you to go either, but that’s not why I’m sayin’ this. I’ve never seen you as happy as you have been, not even when you were flying around with him before - and I thought then that you were the happiest I’d ever seen you. This is more. It’s not too late to stay.”

“It’s too late for him and me. He’ll never forgive me.”

“He will, Rose,” Mickey assured her, and she shook her head in denial. “He wants you happy, but he wants to be the one to _make_ you happy. And if you ask him for forgiveness he’ll give it gladly.”

“It’s not fair,” Rose wailed. “It’s just not fair.”

“I don’t envy you, Rose,” Jackie told her. “There’s no easy answer here. I can’t imagine what you’re going through, and even if I did, I couldn’t fix it. No one can ever tell you that they know just how you feel, and I won’t. You’re right: this is an incredibly unfair situation, and I know that. You have two versions of the same man in love with you. And you’re in love with both of them.”

“Yeah,” she exhaled. 

“This is tearing me up inside too, sweetheart. Not because you’re leavin’, but because you’re hurting like you are. Can’t stand to see you miserable. Doesn’t matter what you’re going through; when you hurt, I hurt.”

“I know, Mum,” Rose murmured.

“You’re the only one to say what you’re gonna do here. I just want you to think long and hard about what it is you want. Do you want that blue box and the stars enough to give up the life you have here? If you do, we’ll keep going. We’ll keep driving until we get to the back end of nowhere and I’ll kiss you goodbye and you can go live a mad life chasing aliens. I’m willing to give you up if that’s what makes you happy. I am. But if you’re happy enough _here_ , with your family and _this_ Doctor, chasing the aliens that land _here_ ; if you want to stay _here_ , we’ll go home right now. You can tell _this_ Doctor that you’re sorry and go on with the life you’ve been living.” Jackie examined her closely. “Have you even told that man that you love him?”

“Yeah,” Rose whispered.

“ _Do_ you love him?”

“More than anything,” Rose responded, wiping her eyes.

“But not more than the stars.” Rose didn’t answer and Jackie pursed her lips. “This is a decision you’re going to have to make, Rose. A lesson you’re going to have to learn, and learn it fast. Time is running out. I want you here with me, I won’t lie. But more than anything I want you happy. That’s all I ever want, and if you’ll be miserable here without himself, then I want you to go.” 

Jackie turned back around to stare out of the windshield, and Rose looked out of her own window at the passing German countryside, tears slipping down her cheeks. It was just as well her mum had stopped talking to her. Rose was at a loss for words anyway.

She thought back to her adventures on the TARDIS, the exhilarating close calls, the wonders he’d shown her and the cozy nights in. She thought about her first Doctor’s bright blue eyes and how they danced when they looked at her. She thought about her second Doctor and the way he seemed to light up whenever she entered the room. She thought about nights curled up with him - both of them, here and on the TARDIS - and how safe those quiet times had made her feel. 

She thought of her second Doctor facing the universe alone, without her. And she did her best not to imagine the look her human Doctor surely had on his face when she had told him she was leaving him. 

Rose knew what she’d told her mother, but although they may have been one man at one time, but there was a clear delineation between them now. They were fundamentally the same, but the events since the regeneration/transgeneration had made them different. She loved them both. She believed - she thought - that both of them loved her, but she’d only ever heard it from one. Now she had to choose which one she loved more, what life she wanted. Did she want to stay on Earth with the _man_ she loved, or did she want to fly through the stars again with the _alien_ she loved? 

No matter what, she was giving up one of her Doctors. But which one? Which one would she choose to spend her forever with? Which one would she hurt? Could she give up a life here in favor of the universe? Could she give up the stars in favor of this world?

It was an impossible situation. She was going to gain one and lose the other. Win or lose, it was all the same. She’d win _and_ lose this time. That was just the nature of the game she was playing.

Rose thought, pondered, and cried. She debated. She raged internally at the unfairness of it all. She contemplated, she weighed options, she made mental pros and cons lists. 

And when they boarded the ferry in Denmark, standing at the front of the ship with the cold wind blowing on her face and freezing the tears that had spilled there, Rose had made her decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to be spoiled, feel free to PM me at caedmonfaith.tumblr.com or facebook.com/bbamazeballs. If you go the facebook route and we're not friends, it may go to my other folder, so if I don't answer that's why. 
> 
> The next chapter goes up on Monday.


	19. Goodbyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't cry very easily, not while reading or writing. According to my statistics page, I've written 715k words and 130 fics. In all of those words and fics I've written, I've cried three times. Twice was because the subject matter was very, very personal to me. 
> 
> This was the last time. 
> 
> I wept bitter tears over this chapter and it's left me drained. I'm posting it and going to bed. That's your tissue warning.

_So this is how it feels to lean in to kiss the one that you love and she turns her cheek_  
_Let me tell you how it feels watching the walls of the house that you built start crumbling_  
_Yeah you feel love is passing you by one more time, but you're not surprised..._  
_...When the day is done, I wanna know..._  
_How do you love someone? How do you really love someone?_  
~"Amateurs"

~*~O~*~

The Doctor stood in the destruction of his office and looked around dismally. The room had always felt cozy to him before, but now it felt more like a prison, a cage, a trap. He felt the overwhelming need to escape; he had to get away from this room that had witnessed his astonishing downfall. 

The Doctor needed to run. 

He turned to Donna, who was visibly anxious. The pity in her eyes rankled him, scraping over his nerves like sandpaper on raw skin, and he snapped at her to cancel his classes and leave the mess, he’d deal with it later. He barely heard her assure him that she’d take care of everything before he was out the door. 

He stepped out into the watery March sunlight and looked around. Students were walking together: laughing, talking, bundled against the cold and snow that he didn’t feel. He spotted couples holding hands as they hurried to class, and one couple - a blonde girl and her dark-haired boyfriend - gave each other a sweet kiss under a bare oak tree. The sight was like a knife to the chest. 

Closing his eyes to the sight, he turned and walked away. The walk turned into a run after a few steps, and then a sprint, until he arrived at his flat and let himself inside before the tears could fall. 

~*~O~*~

Donna had messaged him to say that his classes were cancelled through the end of the week and she’d told the powers that be it was due to a sudden illness. He tried to be grateful, but no emotions would come. Neither would sleep. He sat on his couch, turning the key Rose had left lying on the mantel over and over in his hand, worrying it. 

He was lost to the turbulence of his thoughts, subjects he didn’t want to think about but couldn’t banish. He checked his phone every few minutes to make sure the ringer was on just in case Rose called. She hadn’t. The times the phone _did_ ring it was Donna, calling to make sure that he was okay and try to suss out something she could do for him to make him feel better. He grumbled that he was fine every time and rang off, going right back to staring into the middle distance and trying not to look at the pictures over his mantel. The pictures of he and Rose, together, haunted him. They were happy captured in a picture frame, a frozen moment in time. But all he felt now was loss and misery. 

In the moments that the despair eased its vise-like grip, he felt nothing. Empty. Lost. The sun went down, but he didn’t turn on a lamp. He would have to move in order to bring light to his flat and moving seemed like a tremendous effort, so he sat in the dark. He didn’t care enough to stir himself and besides, the darkness suited his bleak mood. 

He could have gone to bed, but the knowledge that he wouldn’t be waking up to the sounds of Rose’s breathing, the warmth of her body snuggled against his, and her hair tickling his nose left him numb. The knowledge that he never would again kept him in the living room. 

It wasn’t much better there, either. Her scent clung to the cushions he sat on. 

Giving up thinking as a bad job, he got up and left, locking his door behind him, making sure he had his phone. 

Stepping out onto the pavement, he looked left and right, then decided to turn right for no particular reason. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, his fingers wrapping around something soft and cottony. He pulled it out to examine it and found it was Rose’s glove. Just a month before, she’d started a snowball fight with him - losing badly - and the glove of her throwing hand had gotten wet. The cold had started to numb her fingers, so he had taken her glove off and rubbed her hand between his, blowing on it, bringing it back to life. Once it was warm, he’d kept it safely tucked into his, warding off any additional chill. The wet glove had been stuffed into his pocket without any real thought. He’d forgotten it until now. The tears pricked the backs of his eyes again, and he willed them away. 

The Doctor walked the night, prowling the streets of London. The moon shone its weak light overhead and neon signs winked cheerfully, a complete antithesis of what he felt. 

He finally gave over to his thoughts, letting his mind run where they took him. 

He should have known better. He really should have known better than to think that Rose would love him, would want him. What was he, anyway? A bitter and broken old soldier who had done unspeakable things, ended innumerable lives. How could she love him? 

Even if she had, it wouldn’t have made any difference. Even if she _did_ love him, she loved the other him, too, and _that_ him came with the stars. He could never offer her that again, and she’d be crazy to turn down that kind of opportunity. He couldn’t blame her, he supposed. But he’d loved her, and she’d said she loved him. He’d grasped onto that and believed what she told him. He’d assured himself that what she professed was true, using her actions as proof of her words, and he’d grown complacent. Comfortable. 

It must have been a madman’s rainbow that he was chasing. She could never love him; not the way he loved her. 

He’d survive this, he told himself. The TARDIS had sent him here to be what she needed, and he had no choice but to believe he’d done that. He’d been here to soften the blow of re-entry to the slow path until she returned to the fantastic life they’d shared without him, to make her time here bearable, to help soothe her through the loss of the other him. Now his purpose was served, and he was no longer needed. There had been no guarantees of his own happiness, he chided himself. He’d been sent to make Rose happy. He hoped he’d done that.

He’d survive this. He’d get over it. He’d lived through loss before: crushing, unbelievable loss. Rassilon knows he had. It would take time, but he had time. He had nothing _but_ time now. He’d try to forget her. 

If he’d been capable, he’d have laughed at himself for such absurdity. Who was he kidding? There was no way he could _ever_ forget her, and he knew it. He’d be hers until time no longer held any meaning. He was already a shell of the man he’d been the day before, not to mention the Time Lord he had once been. He was hollow without her. 

The Doctor looked up, spotting the moon slipping out from behind the wisp of a cloud. He remembered, long ago, thinking that he was much like a hopeless moon, desolate and bleak, without anything or anyone to warm him. He would catch glimmers from friends and companions, but still, he remained distant and cold. After the Time War, he’d believed himself unworthy of any warming touch, telling himself that the denuded loneliness was exactly what he deserved. 

Then Rose had come along, and she shone so brightly. A light in the darkness always changes everything, and she had certainly changed him. She’d healed him, illuminated him, made him warm; she’d made him happy. She’d made him _feel_. He’d vowed to do anything and everything for her to return the joy she brought him, and had worked hard to do just that. 

Now she was gone. He’d failed. He hadn’t been able to make her happy enough to stay.

He felt himself standing on the very edge of something, a precipice with a steep fall below him. Her absence was a weight around his neck, pulling him down. He wondered idly if letting himself fall would lead to oblivion. That’s all he wanted. He didn’t want to think, didn’t want to feel. He wanted to forget. 

The impulse to drink himself until sleep claimed him flitted into his mind, and the idea was definitely appealing. 

He’d lost her. Rose had said she wasn’t leaving, and he had wanted to believe it was true. But she was gone, never to return, and there wasn’t even the chance for him to win her back. Even now, she was reuniting with the one she loved and truly wanted to be with. The one she’d missed. 

He wanted to be angry at the Time Lord, but how could he? He may not be a full Time Lord anymore, may not have the full strength of his telepathy or Time sense any longer, but he’d maintained all of his knowledge and he knew the stakes in this situation. He also knew that he, himself, would have torn apart universes and ended realities to get to her if it were at all possible. He could only assume that the older version of him would do no less. If what Rose had told him was true, the Prime universe would almost certainly be destroyed from this crossing.

Maybe, if he was lucky, _this_ universe would cave in on itself, too. 

He chided himself for thinking that way. If his selfish wish came true, he’d be responsible for the loss of billions - trillions - more lives. But at least he wouldn’t know it, wouldn’t feel it. 

He’d traveled miles, had walked for hours, and still felt as unsettled as he had when he left his flat. In the past, exercise had always cleared his thoughts, but not this time. He was bemused to find that he had traveled far enough that he no longer knew where he was, and he looked around to try to get his bearings. Didn't really matter where he was, he supposed. One place was as good as another at the moment. None of them held Rose.

He turned around to start the long trek back home. The home that she would never share with him. 

He wished a lot of things. He wished this had never happened. He wished that he’d never fallen so completely in love with her that he’d pleaded to be what she needed and ended up transgenerating just to be with her again. 

He wished she’d loved him more than the other. 

He wished he wasn’t going to have to spend the rest of his life telling her goodbye over and over in his mind.

But more than anything, he wished he could kiss her, hold her - just one more time. 

The Doctor walked the night.

~*~O~*~

Pete drove the jeep down onto the sand and both doors opened. Rose got out of the jeep and immediately felt the wind coming in from the sea, blowing her hair around. She looked out onto the bay and pondered the name of the place they’d come out at. Darlig Ulv Stranden. Bad Wolf Bay. Even after all this time, the Bad Wolf was still part of her, still protecting her, giving her what she needed.

“Bit chilly, innit?” Jackie commented, coming around to stand beside her, rubbing her arms.

Rose’s answer was absent. “It is.”

She heard the sound of a door closing off to her side and turned to find Pete and Mickey opening the boot of the jeep. Mickey reached in to grab one of Rose’s bags and she took a step towards him. 

“Don’t.”

He looked at her, surprised.

“Leave them. I’m staying.”

Pete took a step towards her, and Jackie put her hand on her arm. “Sweetheart, I didn’t mean to-”

“I know you didn’t,” Rose assured her. “But I thought about it the whole way here. I need the Doctor. The Doctor I left behind, in London. I need him.”

“But what about _this_ Doctor? The one coming here?”

Rose bowed her head. “I love him. Always have, and I know I always will. But I can’t throw away what I have now to go back out into the stars. It would be selfish, and so cruel. To everyone. I’m…” She felt tears prick the backs of her eyes, and she cleared her throat in an attempt to chase them away. “I’m here to tell him goodbye.”

Pete came to her and put his hands on her shoulders, ducking his head to catch her eyes. “Rose, is this what’s going to make you happy?”

She shook her head and laughed a little, her sight blurring then clearing when the tears finally won out. “It’s not making me happy to say goodbye, no. But I know I’m doing the right thing. I can’t…” She looked away, trying to regain her composure. “I can’t leave my Doctor behind. I need to go back to him, to beg him to forgive me. But first, I have to say goodbye to _this_ Doctor. I owe him that - I owe _myself_ that.”

Her stepfather enfolded her into a tight hug and she threw her arms around him, squeezing him back. Just a moment later, she felt Jackie’s arms go around the both of them, and then Mickey’s. They stood there for a moment, huddled together, Rose’s tears wetting the shoulder of Pete’s jacket before they all broke away. 

“Do you want me to go with you, sweetheart?” Jackie offered.

Rose shook her head as she wiped her eyes. “No. It’s okay...I need to do this alone. I’ll be fine, Mum. And I’ll be back.”

Jackie gave her a tight-lipped smile and squeezed her hand. 

Rose turned and walked out onto the beach, away from her family.

~*~O~*~

She looked around the bay, searching for the TARDIS and not finding it. A soft whooshing came from behind her, and she turned her head towards it. 

The Doctor stood a few feet away, translucent, and she wondered for a moment if any of this was real, or if it had all just been some kind of fever dream. 

“Where are you?” she asked him.

“On the TARDIS. There’s one tiny little gap in the universe left, and it’s just about to close. It takes a lot of power to send this projection: I’m in orbit around a supernova.” He paused. “I’m burning up a sun just to say goodbye.”

So it was goodbye on his end, too. Her mind eased just a bit. Maybe it was better this way. 

Rose shook her head a little. “You look like a ghost.”

“Hold on,” he answered, then twisted the head of his sonic to change the setting. Her heart squeezed at the sight...she’d miss that. Miss him fiddling with his sonic, sticking it between his teeth as he worked. 

His image became opaque, and she walked toward him, raising her hand up to his cheek. “Can I?”

“I’m still just an image. No touch,” he explained quietly. 

“Can’t you come through properly?”

“The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse.”

“So?” The word escaped her before she could censor it. It was for the best, and she knew it, but she still wanted to touch him, to feel him, to bury her face in his shoulder and take in the scent of him, just one more time. 

Thankfully, he didn’t acknowledge the word beyond a smile. She would never do that, would never ask him to end two realities, and he knew it. 

“Where are we?” the Doctor’s projection looked around. “Where did the gap come out?”

“We’re in Norway.”

“Norway. Right.”

“About fifty miles outside of Bergen. It’s called Darlig Ulv Stranden.”

“Dalek?” he looked puzzled.

“Dar- _lig_ ,” she clarified. “S’Norwegian for ‘bad’.” He stared at her for a minute until she went on. “Translates to Bad Wolf bay.” She laughed - there didn’t seem to be anything else to do. 

He laughed too. 

The tears threatened again, and she heard them in her voice. “How long do we have?”

“About two minutes.”

Rose ran her fingers through her hair, her thoughts wild and chaotic. “I can’t think of what to say.”

He looked over her shoulder to the Jeep, where Pete, Jackie and Mickey stood waiting. He nodded in that direction. “You’ve still got Mr. Mickey, then.”

“There’s five of us now. Six, actually. Mum, Dad, Mickey... and the baby.”

He looked stunned. “You’re not…”

She shook her head, “No, of course not. It’s mum. She’s three months gone, more Tylers on the way.”

He huffed through his nose, a little sound of disbelief, and she just watched his face, memorizing him. The wrinkles around his eyes, the sprinkle of freckles across his nose, his wild fringe, the way he had his top button undone and his tie a little loose.

“Who’s the sixth?” He looked at her curiously. 

“What?”

“You said there were six of you,” he reminded her. “Who is it?”

She looked him in the eye. “You. You’re here.”

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head as if to clear it. “Me?”

“Yes, you.” He looked stunned and confused, so she went on. “Do you remember what you were thinking when you regenerated?”

He looked perplexed. “I was thinking of you. Hoping that you'd still... well... that you’d still want to travel with me. That I'd still be..." He bowed his head, his eyes flickering to the ground. "That I’d still be someone you’d want. Someone you'd need."

She wiped her eyes. “You didn’t just regenerate, you _transgenerated_ , as well,” she told him. 

“Transgenerated…?”

“This you was created,” she indicated him, “but so was another you. The other you. The one in leather. He’s here, living as a human.”

The Doctor’s eyes were wide. “Are you…”

“We’re together,” she told him simply, and gave a little sheepish smile, ducking her head for a moment, pulling her wind-blown hair back from her eyes. 

“Oh, Rose,” he said through a bright, genuine smile, although it was choked with tears. “I’m here with you. That’s brilliant. There’s me.”

Rose laughed again, she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “Yeah, you’re here with me. Better with two, right?” 

His face was a conflict of emotion, a bright smile lighting his sad eyes. “Do you remember when I told you that I’d never leave you behind? I get to keep that promise. I’m so glad.”

Rose just bit her lip and nodded, pulling her hair out of her face again, feeling them catch on the tears that wet her cheeks. 

“What about you? What are you...what are you doing?”

She wanted to hear him laugh again, see him smile. She tried for a joke. “Yeah, I’m back workin’ in the shop.”

The Doctor didn’t seem to get her attempt at humor, and just looked dispirited. “Yeah. Good for you, then.”

“Shut up,” she grinned. “No, I’m not. There’s still a Torchwood here, s’open for business. Think I know a thing or two about aliens.”

His smile was genuine again, proud. “Rose Tyler. Defender of the Earth.”

She didn’t trust herself to speak, and certainly didn’t feel as capable as he was making her out to be. Not in that moment. 

The Doctor sobered. “You’re dead, officially. Back home. So many people died that day, and you went missing.You’re on the list of the dead. Your mum, too.”

The tears were back, and she covered her mouth with her hand. Time was running out. She had something to tell him, and she needed to make it quick. But she wanted him to know, no matter what. 

“Here you are,” he went on. “Living a life, day after day, with me. Well, the other me. The one adventure I’ll never have. But he will and you will. Oh, you’ll have brilliant adventures together. I know it.”

She choked back a sob. “Am I ever going to see you again?”

His voice was soft and ineffably sad when he replied. “You can’t.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“Oh, I’ve still got the TARDIS. Same old life, Last of the Time Lords.”

“On your own?” 

He nodded. 

“Don’t, Doctor. Don’t be alone,” she implored him, and automatically reached for his hand before she remembered. “Find someone. Find someone brilliant and travel with them.”

He smiled at her gently. “I will. For you, Rose, I will. I never could say no to you.”

“I-” She stammered and lowered her head, sobbing into her hand for a moment. “I love you.”

His voice cracked, was quiet. “Quite right, too.”

She should have laughed, but the tears wouldn’t allow it. 

“And I know you’re going to hear it over and over again, every day for the rest of your life. But I suppose, if it’s _my_ last chance to say it…” He paused and Rose’s heart beat a violent tattoo against her chest. “Rose Tyler -”

He faded away, and Rose just stared at the place he’d been. After a moment, the racking sobs that had been threatening her the whole time they talked overtook her. She buried her face into her hands and tried to keep them from escaping. 

_Mum,_ she thought. _I want my mum._ Rose turned around, and it was as if Jackie had heard her. Her mum was sprinting towards her, running full-tilt, and Rose started towards her as well. 

Jackie threw her arms around her daughter and held her tight, rocking her a little, whispering soothing nonsense that Rose didn’t hear. She sobbed, letting go of the maelstrom inside of her, surrendering to grief. Jackie rubbed her back, shushing her. 

“He’s gone, Mum. And he can’t come back.”

“I know, love.”

“He’s gone.”

“It’s alright, Rose. It’ll be alright. I’ve got you.”

Rose cried harder, her heart breaking. After a few moments, she felt Pete and Mickey beside her, each of them putting a hand on her shaking shoulders. 

Sorrow gripped her, held her tight. The Doctor, her pinstriped Doctor, was gone, and she knew now that she’d never see him again. Grief like she hadn’t known since she landed washed over her in waves, threatening to drag her under, just as last time. 

But she had a buoy this time. A life raft. She wouldn’t go under, she wouldn’t drown in sorrow; she had the Doctor. He was here, he loved her and she loved him. And if she could somehow get him to forgive her, he’d keep her afloat. He’d pull her to shore and they would build a life together.

There was hope. She didn’t even have to look for it, it was right there. She just had to get back to him. 

She pulled away from her mum, wiping her eyes with her hands and sniffing. Straightening her shoulders, she resolved, “Right. I need you to get me back to Bergen.”

“Why, sweetheart?” Jackie asked, tucking a strand of Rose’s hair behind her ear. 

“I need to get back to London, now. I need to get back to the Doctor.”


	20. Back to You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose makes her way back to London.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, writing this story has been an honor and a privilege. It's a story I'd had in my mind for almost a year, and I couldn't wait to get it out. 
> 
> Some stories you write for other people, and some stories you write just for yourself. I wrote this story just for myself, and have been absolutely gobsmacked that you all have loved it as much as me. 
> 
> Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment, for every kudos, for caring about these characters and encouraging me...just...thank you. 
> 
> And you guys...give it up for tenroseforeverandever. This story wouldn't be half what it is without her.
> 
> And now, for your enjoyment, the conclusion of 'The Next Best Thing'.

There was a pounding at the door, and the Doctor cursed while he tried to separate it from the pounding in his skull. On instinct he attempted to check his internal Time Sense, but it was fuzzy. It was after 1am, headed towards two, but he couldn’t pinpoint an exact time. Probably shouldn’t have had that second bottle of whisky, he reckoned. 

Rubbish human biology. 

The pounding came again and he rolled over with a moan. He wanted to ignore it. There was no one left in this universe - literally - that he wanted to talk to, so why answer the bloody door? No reason, that’s why. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He wanted nothing more than to stay right where he was and - well, Time Lords didn’t _mope_ , but he wasn’t a Time Lord anymore, now was he? Just a rubbish human, him. With rubbish biology and a rubbish hangover. 

So fuck it. 

He decided, with firm resolve, to do just what he wanted and ignore the damn door, including the offending fuckwit on the other side. They could fuck off. It wouldn’t be Rose there knocking. Rose was gone - gone forever - and no one else deserved his attention. He could lie here if he wanted, cursing his bloody rubbish biology and bloody rubbish luck and bloody rubbish hangover and he didn’t need to speak with anyone. No reason why he _shouldn’t_ lie here, cursing and sulking. So he would, thanks ever so. 

There was nothing to inspire him to get out of bed. His inspiration had left her key on the mantel and was flying through time and space in another universe with a _real_ Time Lord. One that didn’t have rubbish biology or a hangover.

Although it seemed _that_ Time Lord was having better luck than _he_ ever had. 

He rolled over again and growled into his pillow. Fuck everything. 

The pounding on the door came - yet again - and the Doctor heard Donna’s bold voice. 

“Oi! Spaceman! Open the damn door or I’m coming in!”

He groaned. Might have known that giving Donna a key to his apartment in case of emergency would bite him on the arse. 

The Doctor continued to lie there, calling her bluff with his inaction, when he heard the key in the lock. 

Well, _now_ he had some inspiration to get out of bed. The idea of Donna seeing him in his pants didn’t appeal to him one iota. He jumped up, using the words ‘fuck’ and ‘bloody hell’ in his muttering quite liberally, yanking on the trousers that lay in a haphazard heap beside the bed. 

He collided with Donna as he was exiting his bedroom into the lounge, and his hands flew out in an automatic, protective gesture to catch her so she didn’t fall. As soon as she was stable, he pulled his hands back and snapped at her. “What are you doing here? I told you to leave me be. Don’t want to talk to anyone. Don’t need your pity, me.”

“I know you don’t, but I don’t care. Have you heard from Rose?”

The words were like a blow to the gut and he recoiled physically. “Why would I hear anything from Rose? She left me, remember? She’s gone. Fantastic new life. All that rot.” He choked on the words and brushed past Donna to walk into his kitchen, not wanting her to see how stricken he felt. Verbalizing was somehow harder than just the thoughts chasing each other around inside his head. He really _didn’t_ want to talk about it anymore. 

Might as well make tea if he was going to be up. Seemed like he’d need it. Donna wasn’t likely to leave anytime soon. 

“She just called me, Dumbo. She was crying, asking me to pick her up at the airport.”

He spun on his heel at the door to the kitchen and looked at Donna with narrowed eyes. “What do you mean, 'pick her up at the airport'?”

“I mean exactly what I said. She’s on her way back.”

“ _Back_?”

Donna gave him a tiny smile. “Yes, _back_. She’s coming home.”

The Doctor went to his couch and sat down hard, staring into the middle distance for a moment, his eyes now wide. _Back_. Surely he’d heard Donna wrong. It wasn’t possible. She was supposed to be flying through time and space in another dimension by now. After a moment of disjointed thought he looked over at Donna. “I don’t...she’s coming back?”

“Yes, you plonker, and she’s been trying to get in touch with you. She wanted _you_ to meet her at the airport, but you weren’t answering her calls or texts.”

The Doctor jumped up and went into the kitchen, pulling his phone off the charger.

Donna’s voice was soft with understanding. “You’ve had it off, haven’t you?”

“No reason to keep it on,” he muttered absently. “Gave up thinking she’d call after the second day.”

The phone powered up in his hand and within a couple of seconds, seven missed calls from Rose, three from Donna and a whole litany of messages started popping up. He opened the messaging app and read:

[Rose] 04/03/11 - 9:42pm: _I’m so sorry, Doctor. I’m on a zeppelin headed back to London. can we talk when I get there?_  
[Rose] 04/03/11 - 10:32pm: _I know you’re angry with me but please, I need to talk to you_  
[Rose] 04/03/11 - 10:34pm: _I’m so sorry, Doctor. you’ll never know how sorry I am. but I’m coming home to you. I love you_  
[Rose] 04/03/11 - 11:59pm: _I’m landing at 1:45am. will you meet me, please?_  
[Rose] 05/03/11 - 12:22am: _please answer your phone_  
[Rose] 05/03/11 - 12:38am: _I’m going to call Donna and ask her to pick me up since I can’t reach you_  
[Rose] 05/03/11 - 1:17am: _can I come over in the morning at least? please forgive me. I’ll beg_  
[Rose] 05/03/11 - 1:31am: _landing in fifteen minutes. please let me hear from you. I love you_

The Doctor looked up at Donna, stunned. “She’s coming home to me?”

“Seems she chose _you_ , Doctor.”

He shook his head, a denial of this wild idea. “No. More likely he couldn’t come through properly,” he said, morose. “That’s the only reason I can think of that she would come back.”

“Doctor,” Donna began, putting a hand on his arm. “Does it really matter _why_ she’s coming back?”

The Doctor thought for just a moment. She’d left, but she was coming back. He’d told her weeks ago that he believed he was nothing more than something for her to fall back on. It seemed now that the other Doctor had turned her away, and she needed a soft landing. Could he do it? Could he open himself up to that - to her - again? 

It took less than two heartbeats for him to realize that he didn’t care just _why_ she was on a zeppelin to London. If she needed him, he’d always be there for her. He could be her safe place, her quiet harbor, her rock to stand on. He could and he _would._ For Rose, he’d do anything.

The Doctor looked at his watch. 1:37am. “I have to go.” He leapt towards the door, but Donna blocked his way. 

“Yes, you need to go, but you also need a _shirt_ , Spaceman. Preferably shoes and a coat, too. It’s _March_.”

The Doctor looked at Donna as if she wasn’t making sense, then down at himself, bare chested and barefoot. “Right. Clothes.” He rushed back into his room to throw on the necessary articles of clothing. Once dressed, he walked out into his lounge and grabbed his coat from the rack beside the door. 

“I’ve called a cab,” Donna told him. “It’ll be faster, and you’re in no shape to drive. They’re waiting out front.”

The Doctor walked over to Donna and enveloped her in a tight hug, then kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Donna.”

She smiled but gave him a playful push. “Go, you plum. Go get her. I’ll lock up here.”

He turned back at the door, still wide-eyed and poised to say something - he didn’t know what - but she shooed him. “Go! You can thank me later!”

The Doctor didn’t have to be told twice. 

~*~O~*~

Rose had taken the first flight out of Bergen, unwilling to wait the twenty-eight hours of driving - not counting the interminable stops for Jackie to rest, eat, or use the loo - that the trip home would take. She needed the Doctor, _needed_ him, and wanted to get back to him as quickly as possible. Her mother, Pete, and Mickey had tried to talk her into riding back with them so she could clear her head a little before she saw him, but she didn’t _need_ to clear her head. She _needed_ to see him. 

The flight had been uneventful save for her increasing anxiety when the Doctor didn’t answer his phone. There had been many tears, but she’d done her best to remain calm. Maybe he was asleep. Maybe he was out with Donna. 

Or maybe he was lost to her forever. She’d deserve it, if that were the case.

With no small amount of guilt she’d finally called Donna about an hour before she landed, waking her up, and asked her to meet the flight. Rose had started crying in earnest when she heard her friend’s voice and Donna had done her best to soothe Rose over the phone. She’d told her that everything was fine, that everything was going to be okay, and said that she’d be at the airport to pick Rose up. Rose was grateful. She planned to ask Donna to take her to the Doctor’s flat so she could apologize in person. Grovel, if need be. She would do whatever she had to do to gain his forgiveness and absolution, and she didn’t care what time it was. 

She’d only brought one bag with her on the flight containing a few changes of clothes. She’d been hoping that that once she got to London the Doctor would pick her up and take her home with him. She didn’t plan on being parted from him again if he would take her back. Those changes of clothes - plus the two she already had at his place - would be a start. When he’d given her a key and asked her to move in she’d put him off, saying that she’d wanted to think about it. There was nothing else to think about now. She wanted to be with him, and that was that. 

If only he would take her back.

Rose waited by the baggage claim for her bag to come around on the conveyor belt and checked her watch. 1:52. She’d told Donna that she landed at 1:45 and the flight had been on time. She’d hoped that Donna would meet her inside but supposed it made more sense to just pull up to the pick-up and drop-off lane. 

Rose heard a squeal and turned around, spotting a girl about her own age throwing down her bag and sprinting into her parents’ waiting arms. She smiled a little at the sight: she had a little experience with being reunited with a parent after a long absence. 

Her smile faded, however, when she spotted a young mother with a sleeping child on her shoulder, waiting expectantly. The woman’s face lit up and Rose watched with undisguised hunger as the woman rushed forward to greet her husband. The two shared an ebullient, joyful hug, then the man eased the sleepy boy from his wife’s arms, kissing his son’s brow. He put his arm around his wife and the trio started towards the exit of the building. Rose averted her watery eyes and swiped at her cheeks, willing the tears away - just for a little longer. 

The Doctor hadn’t returned any of her calls or texts, and she’d finally given up hope that he would meet her. Thank God Donna had agreed to meet her flight. Even if her friend wasn’t there yet, Rose believed she’d come. She just hoped Donna would come soon. She’d didn’t think she’d ever felt so alone, and she desperately needed a big hug and a good cry. 

Rose grabbed her duffel and made her way out to the front of the building, looking for Donna’s sporty little mini cooper. She didn’t see it and started walking along the pavement, blinking back tears so that she could see more clearly. Donna’s car was nowhere to be found. She stood on tiptoe to make sure, then rolled back down onto her feet, blowing out her breath in an attempt to maintain control. She walked all the way back down the pavement across the front of the building, thinking she might have missed the car.

Still nothing.

She let the tears fall then, the ineffable sadness she felt overcoming her for a moment. She’d left her parents behind in Bergen so she could get back to the Doctor sooner, as quick as possible. When it became apparent that he wasn’t coming, she’d called Donna so that she wouldn’t have to be alone in this moment. Now even Donna wasn’t here. She was overwhelmed with heartbreak. What if Donna had abandoned her because of what she’d done to the Doctor? What if, in addition to losing the love of her life, she’d lost her friend, too? What if she’d fucked things up so badly that there was simply no redemption for her? 

Three days ago Rose had had it all: a man who loved her, a supportive family and friends, a great job she loved. Now she’d left the family behind in Bergen, one of the friends had deserted her at the airport, and the love of her life wouldn’t return her calls. She still had the job, but what good was that? 

What good was anything if she couldn’t share it with the Doctor? Her life had been grey before he found her, both in the basement of Henrik's and then again in this universe, in his classroom at the University. He added a richness, a fullness, that made everything better. Everything had seemed brighter, painted in bold colors, since he’d been in her life. 

Now he was gone. She’d lost him, and she couldn’t help but feel that she’d lost everything. 

Rose wiped her eyes and did her best to shake it off. Once she got back to her parents’ house she could lock herself in her room and cry until she had no more tears, but now was not the time for that. 

Making her way past all of the cars loading and unloading, past all of the people reuniting with loved ones, she walked to the corner of the block to hail a cab. 

~*~O~*~

The Doctor knew that he was going to have to tip the driver an extravagant amount, considering all of the shouting and needling he’d done on the way. 

He checked his watch again as they got closer to the airport. 1:58. Rose had been on the ground for nearly fifteen minutes, and he was going to miss her if he didn’t get there soon. 

The cabbie pulled up at the loading and unloading zone two minutes later and the Doctor shoved a handful of bills over to him. He had no idea how much he’d just paid the man and he didn’t care. The driver may have just gotten the tip of his life, and that was fine with the Doctor in this moment. 

He dashed to the pavement and started looking around for any sign of Rose amongst the crowd. Seeing nothing, he called out to her. 

“Rose!”

A couple of people turned to look at him, but none of them were Rose. 

He took off at a jog down the pavement, scanning faces as he passed them, speeding up as he went along. When he neared the end of the loading and unloading zone, he slowed and turned to go back before a glimpse of a familiar blonde head in the distance caught his eye.

There she was, half a block away, standing under a street lamp and hailing a cab. He watched as one pulled over to her.

“ _Rose!_ ”

He sprinted towards her, deftly dodging the people who were getting in his way, calling her name. 

“Rose! _Rose!_ ”

Her head snapped up and she turned towards him. He ran faster. 

The Doctor watched as her face crumpled. “Doctor?”

He didn’t have time to answer before he was on her, pulling her to him as tight as he possibly could, one arm around her back and the other grasping her head to his shoulder, repeating her name over and over. It was all he was capable of saying. 

“Rose, oh Rose.”

Somewhere far in the distance, he heard the sound of her bag dropping to the ground beside their feet and felt her hands go to his shoulders, clutching him just as tightly as he was gripping her. “I’m so sorry, Doctor,” she cried into his beaten leather coat. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. I’m so sorry.”

“Shush, precious girl, it’s forgiven. It’s already forgiven.”

She sobbed then and he clutched her impossibly tighter while she continued to apologize. He rocked her back and forth, shushing her, murmuring his own apologies. 

Rose pulled away from him. “Why are _you_ sorry? What could you possibly have to be sorry about?”

“Sorry I got angry, sorry I didn’t answer my phone, sorry I wasn’t enough.”

She put her hand up to his cheek, and for the first time he cursed his beard for keeping him away from contact with her skin. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Doctor.” Her face crumpled again. “I’m just…” She couldn’t finish, and he pulled her close again. 

He soothed her for a minute, swaying back and forth on the spot. Her entire body shook with sobs. “I thought I wouldn’t ever see you again, Doctor, and it was horrible. I couldn’t stand it. I thought you’d never forgive me.”

“What happened?” he asked gently. He knew that the answer - the confirmation that he was her second choice - would likely gut him, but he couldn’t stand not knowing. “Why did you come back?”

She hesitated for a moment, looking away at nothing before she met his eyes. “It hit me on the way there...I wanted to be with you. I already had everything I’d ever wanted and I’d left it behind. There was nothing more I wanted than to be with you, forever. I'm only for you, always for you. 

“You’re not the next best thing, Doctor. You’re the _very best_ thing that ever happened to me.”

He put his forehead down onto her shoulder and let his own tears fall. “Rose…”

“I mean it, Doctor. You’re all I want. All I’ll ever want. I’m so sorry I left you.”

“Did you see him?”

“I went to tell him goodbye.”

“Oh, Rose. I’m so sorry...I know that must have hurt.”

“Not as much as the thought of never seeing you again, of not being with you. I...I love you, Doctor. I do.”

The Doctor brought his hands up to her cheeks, cupping them, looking into her crystalline topaz eyes. They were shimmering before him behind a sheen of tears, swimming with countless emotions: joy, sorrow, gratitude, remorse...but permeating it all the Doctor saw the love he felt for her reflected back at him. 

He bent to kiss her, intending to keep it chaste and soft, a wordless declaration of love. The reality of her face between his hands, however...the taste of her on his lips soon overrode his good intentions and he deepened the kiss, pulling her into his arms - where she belonged - and vowing to himself to never, ever let her go.

Then a thought occurred to him, and he pulled away, looking her in the eyes and cupping her face again.

“Rose?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you remember when we went to 1987? The wedding of Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clarke?”

Rose stiffened in his arms a little: that wasn’t the best memory together that they had, and he knew it. But he was about to make it up to her - he just needed to complete the thought. 

“Yeah.”

“While we were there, they told me the story of how they met and fell in love.”

“I don’t know that story.” Rose looked hesitant.

The Doctor lay his forehead against hers. “It was on a street corner at 2am. Hailing a cab. They began their forever that way.”

Tears spilled onto Rose’s cheeks, and he wiped them away with his thumb. 

“I told them I had never had a life like that, but here we are. We’re on a street corner at 2am, and you’ve come back to me.”

Rose sniffled, then huffed a watery laugh. “Take me home, Doctor.”

The Doctor felt his heart sink but tried not to let it show. Of course she was exhausted: it had been a very trying couple of days for both of them. 

“Whatever you want, love.”

He turned towards the street, raising his hand to hail another cab, keeping his arm around his Rose. _His Rose_.

The cab pulled over and he opened the door for Rose to climb in first. 

“78 Vaughan Street, please,” Rose told the cabbie.

The Doctor blinked as he slid into the seat beside her. “You’re coming home with _me_?”

Rose looked a little shy. “Is that alright?”

He took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “Only if you promise to stay forever. Here. I brought this.” He dug the key out of his pocket and put it into her open palm. “My home is yours. I want you with me always.”

She leaned across and kissed him soundly as the cab pulled away from the curb. 

~*~O~*~

The sunrise was peeking through the windows, but neither Rose nor the Doctor had slept a wink. They lay together in his bed - now officially _their_ bed - huddled under the duvet, gloriously nude. 

They’d stumbled through his front door, Rose walking backwards as the Doctor herded her towards the bedroom, throwing aside her duffel bag and any clothes that impeded their bodies from being as close as possible to each other, keeping their lips firmly attached to one another. One lovemaking session, fast and desperate, had given way almost immediately to a slower, more tender second encounter full of touches and caresses and whispered words of love and devotion. 

Now Rose was nestled in the crook of his arm, her hair fanned out behind her over the Doctor’s arm and her left hand resting on his chest. The Doctor stroked her side idly, letting his fingers trace her skin with the lightest possible touch, occasionally doodling his name on her in Gallifreyan. 

Rose sighed, content, and he bent to kiss her forehead. 

“I love you,” she murmured. 

“I love you, too.” He stroked her for a few more moments then asked quietly, “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Rose hesitated for a minute, and he kissed the top of her head again. Couldn’t seem to help himself. “You don’t have to, love. You never have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay,” she answered. “It’s just...might be hard to get all of it out.”

“Tell me what you can, what you want, and nothing more.”

She took a deep, steadying breath, then began. “I’d made my decision on the way there to come back home to you. I realized in the jeep that I wanted you. I needed you. It occurred to me what I would be giving up if I went with him.”

He’d heard it before, but they were cherished words he certainly didn’t mind hearing again. He squeezed her a little and gave silent thanks to a deity he didn’t believe in.

“But I still wanted to see him. I had to.” He felt a tear hit his shoulder and run off, and he pulled her a little closer. “I needed to tell him goodbye, and why I was staying.”

“I understand,” the Doctor said. And he did.

“He led us to Norway, to a place called Darlig Ulv Stranden.”

“Darlig Ulv Stranden?”

“Bad Wolf Bay,” Rose explained. 

The Doctor closed his eyes. Of course the Bad Wolf was still looking after them. Of course she was. 

“I walked out onto the beach and he appeared. He couldn’t come through. He said…” She hesitated for a minute, then swallowed and went on. “He said he was burning up a sun just so he could say goodbye, and we only had a couple of minutes. He asked after my family and I told him about Mum and Pete and the baby. Then I told him about you.”

The Doctor was surprised. “You did?”

“Yeah. He was really glad, genuinely glad, when I told him you were here and we were together. Now for the rest of his lives, he’ll know that we’re happy.”

He nodded but didn’t say anything. To know that she was happy and living a fantastic life was all he’d ever wanted, and that must have carried over to his new body as well. 

“I told him to find someone to travel with. You’re rubbish on your own,” she teased with a tiny smile in her voice. 

He chuckled. “Yeah. I am.”

“I told him I loved him,” she blurted, “just before he disappeared.”

The Doctor viciously tamped down the stab of jealousy those words brought. “What did he say?”

Rose took a deep, shuddering breath as if she was trying not to cry, then answered him. “He said ‘quite right, too’.”

The Doctor grinned. “Still an arrogant sod, I see.”

“Just a bit, yeah,” Rose confirmed, and he felt her smile against his chest. “Then he said, ‘I know you’ll hear it every day for the rest of your life, but if it’s _my_ last chance to say it…’.”

The Doctor waited for her to finish, but she didn’t. “Is that all? He didn’t tell you?”

“He said my name.” The Doctor felt the warmth of her tears against his skin. “He said, ‘Rose Tyler.’ Then he disappeared. He didn’t tell me.”

“Oh, Rose,” the Doctor crooned. Then he rolled his body so that he was facing her, could hug her properly. Rose melted into his embrace, tucking her head under his chin and letting the tears fall. He felt her soft sobs shuddering against him, and his heart broke for her. 

“He didn’t say it,” she cried. “He didn’t say it.”

“He didn’t get the chance, Rose. If he’d had more time, just a second or two more, he’d have told you he loved you, too.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I am. Rose, I’ve loved you for a long, long time. I practically told you on Downing Street, remember?” She nodded under his chin. “He loved you, Rose. There’s no question about it.”

“He’s gone now.”

“Yes.”

“But I _do_ love him.” She hesitated. “Is that alright?”

The Doctor took a deep breath, giving himself a moment to assess his own feelings. “Yes, Rose. He’s me, after all. I’d be alarmed if you _didn’t_ love us both.” 

“I love you,” she whispered, and he felt her warm breath stirring the hairs on his chest. “I love you so much, Doctor.”

“I love you too, Rose Tyler.”

They lay together in comfortable silence for a few moments, then she asked him, “Were you okay while I was gone?”

“We don’t need to talk about that, love.”

“Tell me, please.”

“Not right now,” he said with a shake of his head. “Your feelings are a jumble right now, and I’m not adding mine to them. One day I’ll tell you, but not right now.”

“Okay,” she breathed, and he was grateful that she let it go.

“So where do we go from here, Doctor?” She pulled back to look at him and her eyes were dry now.

He grinned at her, cheekily rubbing his bare body against hers so that she couldn’t mistake his meaning. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty happy where we are.”

Rose giggled and swatted his arm. “Git. You know what I mean.”

“I don’t know, Rose. I know I want you with me. I know that I love you and I want to be a big part of your life. I want to be the _best_ part of your life.”

“You already are,” she murmured. 

“But other than that, I don’t know. Let’s just take it one day at a time for now, alright?”

“I want to live here, with you. If…” she paused. “If the offer still stands. I mean, I know what you said in the cab, but I mucked things up. I just mucked things up so terribly, and -”

He stopped her mouth with a finger on her lips, replacing it after a moment with his own lips. “There’s nothing I want more, love. Told you, want you to stay here forever, me.”

They lay together in silence for a few long moments, and the Doctor simply relished the warmth of her body against him; the way her hand lay quietly on his chest, the way her breathing brought her body into his side in a rhythmic cadence, the way her breath blew a light wind against his neck, the way one smooth leg had situated itself between his. 

For sixty-four endless hours, he’d believed that he’d never feel any of this again, that he’d lost it all forever. Now by some miracle she was back in his arms, and he vowed in that moment to do anything and everything he ever had to do to keep her there, to keep her loving him.

“Doctor?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you remember when you told me that when you regenerated, you tried to become the kind of man I would want?”

“I do.”

“You were _always_ the kind of man I wanted, Doctor. _Always._ ”

His throat constricted a little and he couldn’t speak. He had no idea what to say to that, anyway, so he stayed silent. Rose went on.

“I meant what I said. When I told you that you’re _not_ the next best thing, I meant it. You’re _not_. I’m not just settling for you. _You_ are what I want, _all_ I want. Forever.”

He ducked his head forward and caught her lips with his, giving her a soft, chaste kiss. “You’re all I want, too, Rose. All I’ve ever wanted.”

She sighed, and he felt her press a smile against his shoulder as she settled into his side again. “Fantastic.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "What's that you say, Caedmon? You wrote an _epilogue_? And you're going to post it _tomorrow_!?"
> 
> Surprise!


	21. Epilogue

_London, England, Pete's World_  
_June 30, 2016_

The Doctor, who had once had Time itself at his command, was helpless to do anything but wait while Rose was in the loo. 

He paced the lounge of their house, killing time as he had on his birthday so long ago, letting himself be swept away in the memories provided by the pictures and mementos on the shelves and walls. 

A portrait of Rose in her wedding gown hung on one wall, and he looked at it lovingly. They’d been married a little less than three years now, but it seemed like yesterday that he’d stood at one end of the aisle at the church - the same church where they’d hid from the Reapers in a parallel universe - and watched his bride emerge from the other end with her mother and stepfather on each arm, walking towards him, choosing him forever. 

He smiled a little and took a step to his right, towards the recessed bookshelves. There was a photo of he and Rose standing hand in hand in Egypt, with the pyramids of Giza in the background. Next to it stood a photo of Rose laughing while the Doctor played a didgeridoo in the Australian outback. 

The Doctor picked up the framed picture next to it, a photo of Rose holding a blue bundle: Tony, his tiny little brother-in-law. The boy was four now and terribly clever. He took great joy in Tony, surprising even himself. He couldn’t help it: it was hard for the Doctor to turn down the opportunity to teach such an inquisitive young mind, and Tony had helped to bring out the Doctor’s playful side. 

Besides that it was great fun to build elaborate lego castles and impress him. 

He and Rose had continued travelling, exploring anything and everything they could find. Rose had especially enjoyed scuba diving and they’d taken several dives at various locations around the planet. The Doctor preferred hiking and there were a couple of photos of them in outdoor gear on the side of one mountain or another. 

As he usually did, he walked to the mantel and looked at the photos there. He’d been unsurprised to learn that Jackie loved to entertain. After the third party in a year he’d broken down and bought himself a tux. It seemed that his black-tie curse had broken and he rarely minded dressing up for Rose these days to go to some party Jackie threw or some fundraiser for Torchwood. Several of the pictures around their house featured him in his tux while Rose sparkled on his arm in whatever frippery she’d decided to wear to that particular event. 

In one of the photos, he and Rose posed in front of the tree at Jackie’s annual Christmas party, the first holiday after they’d married. Rose had worn a long green dress that night, accented with rubies, and he’d been in awe of her. Just as he always was. 

Another candid shot, this one of Rose’s most recent birthday. Jackie had thrown a party in honor of Rose’s milestone thirtieth birthday. Rose hadn’t complained or protested, considering that she was actually a couple of years younger and was thirty only according to her forged paperwork. She’d accepted the party in the spirit it was intended and they’d had a wonderful time. Tony had told Rose she looked like a princess in her pink dress and insisted on staying beside her the entire night until he’d fallen asleep in the Doctor’s arms while Rose enjoyed some cake. In the photo, Rose held Tony’s hands while he stood on her toes, and she led her brother around the dance floor with a bright smile. 

Even though the shelves were filled with memories of their life together, the Doctor was ready to add more.

He blew out a breath. All of this reminiscing was fun, but the wait was becoming interminable. They’d decided to start trying for a baby only six months ago, at the beginning of this year, but so far they'd had no success. They’d both been hopeful about this time. He was half a mind to head into the bathroom and…

A throat cleared behind him, and he whirled around to find Rose standing in the doorway, her hands clasped in front of her. 

“Yeah?”

She bit her lip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you may or may not have read in the comments, this fic is now becoming the first story in a verse. I am _really_ excited to expand on this story, since I have been passionate about it for nearly a year. There are so many stories and adventures left for the Doctor and Rose to have (I have a whole document with notes and ideas already!) even between Chapter 20 and here...but I'd love to hear your ideas! What would you like to see the Doctor and Rose do? '
> 
> Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my little story. It means more to me than I can ever tell you!!


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